Neostriatal dopamine and sensory inattention

Damage to the mesotelencephalic dopamine-containing projection of rats results in a sensory inattention, characterized by impairments in orientation toward somatosensory, visual, and olfactory stimuli. The present experiments were performed to establish which branch of this dopaminergic system is responsible for these sensorimotor deficits. Two approaches were used. In the first, individual dopamine-innervated forebrain sites were damaged by localized 6-hydroxydopamine injection into, or by electrolytic lesions of, these regions. In the second, rats were given tegmental 6-hydroxydopamine injections that damaged the entire mesotelencephalic projection and subsequently received intracerebral injections of the dopamine agonist apomorphine into specific forebrain sites in an attempt to reinstate orientation. The results demonstrate that dopaminergic terminals in the neostriatum are critical for orientation. Unilateral neostriatal 6-hydroxydopamine injections or electrolytic lesions reduced orientation to contralateral touch, whereas similar damage to other dopamine-innervated forebrain structures did not. Further, the results suggest that dopaminergic terminals in the anterior neostriatum are especially important for orientation to touch of the rostral body surface while those in the posterior neostriatum are most critical for orientation to caudal touch. After damage to all branches of the mesotelencephalic dopaminergic system, orientation to touch was reinstated by injection of apomorphine into the neostriatum but not by injection into the other dopamine-innervated forebrain regions tested.     

What is the “front” of a simple geometric form?

A total of 670 undergraduate Ss were tested in three studies conducted in an attempt to define a set of cues that minimally specify perceived “frontness” and “backness” of objects. In Experiment I, Ss were instructed to identify the “front” and “back” of printed squares to which no, one, or two circles were attached. In Experiment II, different Ss made the same kind of judgment to a wider range of geometric forms. In Experiment III, different Ss judged the direction of “imagined” movement of forms from Experiment I. The results indicated that the “front” and “back” are asymmetric opposite sides, with “front” the side most different from the rest and the side toward which the form is imagined to be moving.     

Illusion in a three-dimensional Hering figure in relation to viewing distance

Two groups of 34 Ss each judged the amount of illusion in a three-dimensional Hering figure at three viewing distances (9, 18, and 36 ft). The horizontal bars could be located in the foremost frontal plane of the three-dimensional display or could be recessed within it. Group C-F began at the close distance and Group F-C at the furthest distance. Amount of illusion increased with viewing distance and was greater with the bars recessed within the display. At the furthest distance, but not at the other distances, amount of illusion was greater for Group F-C. The results confirm predictions from Gregory’s theory of primary constancy scaling but are also interpretable in terms of local effects at the intersections of parallel bars and background lines.     

Book reviews

Timing in Temporal Tracking. By J. A. Michon. Soesterberg, Netherlands: Institute for Perception RVO-TNO, Netherlands. 1967. Pp. 127.

Human Performance. By Paul M. Fitts and Michael I. Posner. Belmont, California: Brook/Cole Publishing Co. 1967. Pp. x + 162. 14s.

Human Memory. By Jack A. Adams. New York: Mcgraw Hill. I967. Pp. ix + 326. $9.50.

Biological Foundations of Language. By Eric H. Lenneberg. With Appendices by Noam Chomsky and Otto Marx. New York and London: Wiley. 1967. Pp. xvi+489. £6.

The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach. Edited by Frank Smith and G. A. Miller. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The M. I. T. Press. Pp. xii + 400. $4.

Acquisition du Langage at Developpement de la Pensee. By H. Sinclair-de Zwart. Paris: Dound. 1967. Pp. vi+ 168. 23F.

Principles and Methods of Social Psychology. By E. P. Hollander. London and New York: Oxford University Press. 1967. Pp. xxiii + 520. 64s.

Current Perspectives in Social Psychology. Second Edition. Edited by E. P. Hollander and R. G. Hunt. London and New York: Oxford University Press. 1967. Pp. vii + 685. 40s. (paper).

The Use of Lateral Thinking. By Edward de Bono. London: Cape. 1967. Pp. 157. 18s.

“Instinct” and “Intelligence”: The Science of Behaviour in Animals and Man. By S. A. Barnett. London: Macgibbon & Kee. 1967. Pp. xiv + 250. 45s.     

A method of successive cumulations for the scaling of pair-comparison preference judgments

The present model treats the scaling of pair-comparison preference judgments among a unidimensional set of stimuli across a population of individuals. Given a setS ofn stimuli,S = {S ₁,S ₂, ,S _n }, the model yields a partially ordered metric on the interstimulus distances which may be used to construct an interval scale of values forS. Obtained also are a set of predictionsP = {P ₁,P ₂, ,P _n } whereP _i is the proportion of individuals in the population whose first choice among the elements ofS isS _i . A numerical illustration is offered and comparisons are drawn with Coombs' unfolding technique.This work was supported in part by Grant GB 2345 from the National Science Foundation. An earlier version of this paper was prepared while the author was a consultant to Proctor & Gamble Co. during the summer of 1964.Now with Proctor & Gamble Co.     

Self-monitoring behavior in a case of severe auditory agnosia with aphasia

This case report describes an unusual combination of speech and language deficits secondary to bilateral infarctions in a 62-year-old woman. The patient was administered an extensive series of speech, language, and audiologic tests and was found to exhibit a fluent aphasia in which reading and writing were extremely well preserved in comparison to auditory comprehension and oral expression, and a severe auditory agnosia. In spite of her auditory processing deficits, the patient exhibited unexpected self-monitoring ability and the capacity to form acoustic images on visual tasks. The manner in which she corrected and attempted to correct her phonemic errors, while ignoring semantic errors, suggests that different mechanisms may underlie the monitoring of these errors.     

A Comparative Evaluation of Police Suicide Rate Validity

The authors assessed sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of official police suicide rates and compared them to municipal workers. Deaths officially classified as suicide, accidental, and undetermined were submitted to a panel of medical examiners for validation. Six cases originally in the accident and undetermined rubric were reclassified as suicide. Official police suicide rates had less sensitivity (83.3% compared to 92.3%) of actual suicides than municipal worker rates. Police suicide rates also showed a lower negative proportion than municipal worker rates (86.2% compared to 98.7%). A generalizable sensitivity proportion equation for assessing suicide rates in other police groups is presented.