Automatic and volitional semantic processing in aphasia.

The present study investigated the status of semantic information in aphasia by comparing the performances of aphasic and nonaphasic subjects on two tasks: an automatic semantic facilitation task and a volitional task of relatedness judgment. Both the aphasic and nonaphasic groups evidenced a semantic facilitation effect, in an on-line task of semantic processing. However, those aphasics with severe comprehension and naming disturbances (termed low comprehension aphasics) demonstrated considerable difficulty in judging the relatedness between a pictured object and members of that object's semantic field, the severity of the impairment being greater for those pictures that the low comprehension aphasics were unable to name. The pattern of results can best be explained by supposing the structural integrity of the store of semantic information in aphasia, and in particular in low comprehension aphasia: information that is retrieved and manipulated in judgment-mediated tasks with considerable difficulty.     

Semantic abilities in dementia of the Alzheimer type. 1. Lexical semantics

The lexical semantic abilities of 18 Alzheimer patients were investigated using confrontation naming tasks (including both visual and tactile naming tests) and compared to those of a group of institutionalized, nonneurologically impaired control subjects matched for age, sex, and educational level. The Alzheimer patients produced a greater number of naming errors than the control subjects. The errors made by subjects during the naming tasks were analyzed according to a set of 16 error response types. The Alzheimer patients' response patterns suggest that they do recognize objects which they are unable to name and are able to identify the semantic class to which the target belongs, but cannot provide the lexeme corresponding to the correct individual class member. The results support a semantic network disruption rather than a visual perceptual deficit as the basis of the naming disturbance observed in Alzheimer patients.     

"I fired my last doctor for not taking me seriously": collaborating with a difficult medical patient in a multidisciplinary primary care facility

We present the case of a multidisciplinary primary care assessment of a 32-year-old woman with multiple medical and psychological complaints. Following the collaborative care model, this assessment was conducted by a team consisting of a clinical health psychologist, Dr. J. L. Skillings, and a family physician, Dr. W. J. Murdoch. We describe the primary care environment in which this referral was made including the methods that were utilized to insure a successful professional collaboration. We report the results and recommendations from a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment; we place emphasis on the psychological diagnosis and pain symptoms. We also describe the feedback session in which the assessment results were provided to the patient and her spouse by both physician and psychologist. Multiperspective commentary about the assessment is offered by the patient and her husband as well as the physician and psychologist assessors.     

Sex differences in the factor structure of a modified Sexual Experiences Questionnaire

Sexual harassment has long been a problem in educational, employment, and military populations. It is unclear whether existing questionnaires used to measure sexual harassment in the U.S. military--particularly, derivatives of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire--perform similarly in men and women. Using exploratory factor analyses in a mixed sample of active duty troops and veterans (289 men, 181 women), sex differences were found in one version's factor structure. Implications and suggestions for improving the validity of the questionnaire for men are offered.     

Denotation of contextual modal type theory (CMTT): Syntax and meta-programming

The modal logic S4 can be used via a Curry–Howard style correspondence to obtain a λ-calculus. Modal (boxed) types are intuitively interpreted as ‘closed syntax of the calculus’. This λ-calculus is called modal type theory—this is the basic case of a more general contextual modal type theory, or CMTT.CMTT has never been given a denotational semantics in which modal types are given denotation as closed syntax. We show how this can indeed be done, with a twist. We also use the denotation to prove some properties of the system.     

Unity in nominal equational reasoning: The algebra of equality on nominal sets

There are currently no fewer than four dedicated logics for equality reasoning over nominal sets: nominal algebra, nominal equational logic, nominal equational logic with equality only, and permissive-nominal algebra.In this survey and research paper we present these logics side-by-side in a common notation, survey their similarities and differences, discuss their proof- and model-theories, and discuss in detail what the implications of those differences are for mathematical reasoning in each of them.     

Lateral dominance and visual evoked potentials in albinos

Lateral preferences for the use of eye, hand, and foot were assessed in 17 male and female albino subjects, aged 15 to 52 yr. Visual evoked potential (VEP) recordings suggested that optic fibres were abnormally decussated in these subjects, as others have shown. Fewer albino subjects showed the lateral preference for the use of hand/eye and foot/eye similar to that of normals. It is postulated that the abnormal decussation of optic fibres may underlie the reduced preference for the use of the same hand and eye, and foot and eye, in albinos.     

Fresh Logic: proof-theory and semantics for FM and nominal techniques

In this paper we introduce Fresh Logic, a natural deduction style first-order logic extended with term-formers and quantifiers derived from the FM-sets model of names and binding in abstract syntax. Fresh Logic can be classical or intuitionistic depending on whether we include a law of excluded middle; we present a proof-normalisation procedure for the intuitionistic case and a semantics based on Kripke models in FM-sets for which it is sound and complete.