Letter identification declines with increasing retinal eccentricity at the same rate for normal and dyslexic readers

It has recently been claimed (Geiger & Lettvin, 1987; Perry, Dember, Warm, & Sacks, 1989) that the acuity/eccentricity function is flatter in dyslexics than in normal subjects, with dyslexics showing better performance in the periphery and worse performance at fixation. In these studies, all target letters were presented to the right of fixation, a procedural flaw inviting subjects to optimize performance by directing attention and/or gaze to the right of the designated fixation point. It is suggested that dyslexic and normal readers may differ in the degree to which they might adopt the optimal strategy in this situation. To overcome this problem, target letters were briefly presented at 16 randomly intermixed locations derived from the orthogonal combination of four eccentricities and four directions from fixation (above, below, right, left). The accuracy of letter identification declined with increasing eccentricity at the same rate for good and poor adult readers and dyslexic teenagers. This finding provides no support for the view that the acuity/eccentricity function might vary with and possibly cause differences in reading level.     

Effects of target-background luminance ratios upon the autokinetic illusion

This study investigated effects of the target-background luminance ratios upon the autokinetic illusion, with special emphasis on manipulation of the background intensity. Exp. 1, in which the effects of four levels of target luminance were examined against the completely dark background, showed that the target luminance did not affect the illusion as long as the target was small enough in size (0.17 degrees in visual angle). This result confirmed the suggestion by Edwards in 1954. In Exp. II effects of the target-background luminance ratios were examined by varying the luminance of target and background independently. Dominant illusory patterns at the luminance ratio 1 were "pendulum-like" and "bobbing"; these differed from those at higher ratios ("winding"). On the other hand, latency and duration were not affected by the ratios. These findings suggest that the movement pattern is effective in specifying the autokinetic illusion, if it is appropriately categorized and represented.     

Relationship between academic placement and perception of abuse of the voice

Informal polling of public school speech-language pathologists indicated that special education teachers referred more children for disorders of voice than did regular classroom educators. This study evaluated the effect of academic placement (regular or special education settings) upon children's and their teachers' ratings of abuse of the voice. Analysis showed the two groups of teachers' criteria for judging abusive vocal behaviors differed while the children's ratings from each setting did not differ. The special educators appeared to perceive their students' vocal behavior as more abusive possibly due to environmental constraints, training or the social affective interactions of their students.     

Behavior at 10 and 13 years of age for children with low birth weight

This study was based on data from a longitudinal research program. The cohort consisted of 874 normal children in an entire school grade in a Swedish community. The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between birth weight and behavior at school, for all children and for each sex separately. The results identified specific aspects of behaviour disorder significantly related to low birth weight (LBW) for children at the age of 10 but not at the age of 13. When the sexes were separated, there were no relations between birth weight and deviant behaviour for boys of low birth weight as compared to boys of normal birth weight, while girls of low birth weight showed specific behavioural disorders at age 10 as compared to girls of normal birth weight. For girls reared in families of low parental socioeconomic status, aggressiveness and motor restlessness at age 10 but not at age 13 was also present. Further analyses showed that girls born small-for-gestational age showed lack of school motivation and concentration difficulties both at age 10 and age 13.     

A dilemma for internal realism

Conclusion Given my dilemma, then, we should think twice before following Putnam away from metaphysical realism. Internal realism can offer only a false sense of philosophical security. And now we may doubt that it can offer even that.     

Physiological reactivity in acculturation: a study of female Japanese students

Several investigations have indicated that length of residence can predict acculturation associated with stress. However, there have been no studies from a psychophysiological perspective to assess whether length of residence affects physiological reactivity. The purpose of this study was to compare reactivity to psychological stress in female Japanese students of long- and short-term residence at a large university in northeastern USA, after administering a stress questionnaire to examine stress in adjusting to their US academic lives. 12 subjects were randomly chosen for each group (short- and long-term residence) from an initial population of 90 students. The subjects were presented three stressors (English-reading, stress-imagination, and arithmetic) for 2 min. each, with a 6-min. recovery period following each stressor. A significant interaction appeared for groups over time on heart-rate reactivity. While the long-term group had a linear component in heart rate across time for the tasks, the short-term group did not. Although the short-term group had higher skin temperature than the long-term group, only the short-term group had a tendency to increase skin temperature after the tasks. These data suggest that continued study of physiological reactivity to stress may be useful for developing techniques for coping with acculturative stress.     

Biotinidase deficiency--a progressive metabolic disease in children with seizures and ataxia

Biotinidase deficiency is the primary biochemical defect in late-onset multiple carboxylase deficiency and an autosomal recessive disorder and characterized by seizures, ataxia, alopecia and skin rash. We describe a colorimetric semiquantitative method for screening for biotinidase activity from dried samples of whole blood spotted on filter papers. The administration of biotin to affected children can be a lifesaving procedure and can prevent irreversible neurologic damage.     

Magnetoencephalography--current trends

The review deals with the method of magnet-encephalography. The physical principles and the most important technical conditions to put into practice this method are mentioned. Comparing with the electroencephalography this method shows various advantages, what leads to its intensive use for the localisation of components of evoked potentials, for the magnet-encephalographic record of the brain activity of the human fetus, and for the localisation of epileptic foci in therapy resistant epileptics.     

Differential diagnosis of endogenous psychoses in relation to a symptom catalog

The paper introduces a catalog of symptoms to promote in the field of endogenous psychoses differentiated diagnosis, at the same time constituting a prognosis. Symptoms should be more minutely differentiated than is customary in psychiatric questionnaires. Manic-depressive disorders and purely phasal psychoses are distinguished solely in the clinical evaluation. Thus benign cycloid psychoses can be distinguished from malignant unsystematic schizophrenia.