Purdue pegboard performance of disabled and normal readers: Unimanual versus bimanual differences

Differences between dyslexics and controls in the unimanual and bimanual conditions of the peg placement section of the Purdue Pegboard Test were examined. Twenty-three disabled and twenty-three normal readers were studied. The groups were carefully screened on a neuropsychological battery. The disabled readers were comprised of a relatively homogeneous language-disordered subgroup exhibiting deficits in naming. Significant Group X Condition interactions were obtained for both raw and percentile scores and indicated that disabled readers performed worse than controls in the unimanual compared to bimanual conditions. The dyslexics performed particularly poorly compared with controls on the left hand condition. The implications of these data for hypotheses which argue for left hemisphere dysfunction, as well as those which posit interhemispheric transfer deficits in reading disabled children, are discussed.     

Directed attention influences the modification of startle reflex probability

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of directed attention on elicitation and modification of the startle reflex. 30 adult human subjects received 90 dB(A) broadband noise startle stimuli either alone or preceded by a 60 dB(A) prepulse (either 2000-Hz tone, 1000-Hz tone, or broadband noise). Subjects were instructed to attend to one of the three prepulses during half the trials and to ignore all stimuli during the rest of the trials. The probability of responding while attending to a prepulse was significantly lower than the probability of responding while ignoring the prepulses. Responding to the prepulses was also more probable while subjects were attending to the prepulses, and these effects were more pronounced for tone than for noise prepulses. These results suggest that directed attention can influence the probability of the startle reflex without influencing startle amplitude or latency.     

Retroactive pessimism: a different kind of hindsight bias

In an attempt to regulate disappointments people may sometimes change their perceptions of the events leading to an undesirable outcome so that in retrospect this outcome seems almost inevitable. This retroactive pessimism effect was demonstrated in three studies. In the first, sports fans rated the likelihood of success for their team and its opponent before and after an important soccer match. Evidence for significant pre‐ and post‐game probability shifts was found for the fans of the defeated team but not for the supporters of the winning opponent. In the second and the third experiments participants responded to a scenario depicting a loss of stipend that was either large or small in value. Participants were expected to show more evidence of retroactive pessimism with greater disappointment. Indeed, estimates of the probability of a more favorable counterfactual outcome were sensitive to the magnitude of the loss with lower estimates of the probability that things could have turned out better in the large stipend condition. The effect was attenuated, however, when the loss was not personal but rather that of a friend (Experiment 2), or when the disappointment was mitigated (Experiment 3). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social support and prognosis in patients at increased psychosocial risk recovering from myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the impact of network support and different types of perceived functional support on all-cause mortality or nonfatal reinfarction for patients with a recent acute myocardial infarction (AMI). DESIGN: Participants were recruited from the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease (ENRICHD) trial; 2,481 AMI patients with depression or low social support were randomized to a cognitive-behavioral intervention or to a usual care control group. Data collection for certain measures of social support was limited: 2,466 participants completed the ENRICHD Social Support Inventory; 2,457 completed the Perceived Social Support Scale; 1,296 completed the Social Network Questionnaire; and 707 completed the Interpersonal Support and Evaluation List, Tangible Support subscale. Patients also completed the Beck Depression Inventory and were followed for up to 4.5 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Time to death or nonfatal reinfarction. RESULTS: Over the follow-up period, 599 patients (24%) died or had a nonfatal AMI. Survival models controlling age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, smoking, antidepressant use, and a composite measure of increased risk revealed that higher levels of perceived social support were associated with improved outcome for patients without elevated depression but not for patients with high levels of depression. Neither perceived tangible support nor network support were associated with more frequent adverse events. CONCLUSION: AMI patients should be assessed for multiple dimensions of perceived functional support and depression to identify those at increased psychosocial risk who may benefit from treatment.     

Cognitive deficits following coronary artery bypass grafting: prevalence, prognosis, and therapeutic strategies

There is increasing recognition that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) may be a risk factor for subtle cognitive decline although the presence and pattern of such decline has varied across studies. Cognitive deficits may present as short-term memory loss, executive dysfunction and psychomotor slowing. Although they are usually are not severe enough to meet criteria for mild cognitive impairment or vascular dementia, they lower quality of life and add to hospitalization and out-of-hospital costs. Proposed mechanisms include surgical-related trauma, genetic susceptibility (eg, apolipoprotein E4 allele), microembolization, other vascular or ischemic changes, and temperature during surgery. Depression and anxiety levels predict subjective perception of these deficits more than objective cognitive performance. Both nonpharmacologic (eg, emboli reduction, temperature, or glucose management) and pharmacologic (eg, dexanabinol, glypromate, nootropics) strategies to prevent post-CABG cognitive deficits are under investigation. Given the large numbers of subjects who may already have CABG associated cognitive deficits, clinical trials of agents being tested for Alzheimer's disease (eg, donepezil, rivastigmine, memantine, neramexane, ginkgo) may also be informative. The results of multicenter long-term outcome studies (with matched control groups) as well as ongoing treatment trials will more conclusively address some of these issues. These data emphasize the need for clinicians to monitor cognitive function before and after coronary bypass surgery, and to educate patients.     

Inhibition of acoustic startle using different mechanoreceptive channels

In this experiment, we investigated the impact of vibrotactile prepulse frequency and intensity on the acoustically elicited startle response in humans. Mechanoreceptive channels differing in their sensitivity to transient stimulation have been identified in the skin. The Pacinian channel is optimally sensitive to vibrations at approximately 300 Hz and is specialized for the detection of stimulus transients, whereas the non-Pacinian I and III channels are optimally sensitive to vibrations at approximately 30 Hz. Vibrotactile prepulses with frequencies of 30 and 300 Hz and intensities of 95 and 130 mV were presented for 50 msec to the dominant hand of college students (N = 31), followed on some trials by a 95-dB broadband acoustic startle stimulus. The 300-Hz prepulses resulted in significantly more pronounced inhibition of startle magnitude, amplitude, and probability, whereas only the 30-Hz prepulses significantly facilitated blink latency. These results support the idea that the inhibition of acoustic startle is determined more by transient than by sustained aspects of vibrotactile prepulse stimuli. This study also demonstrates that different aspects of the startle response differentially reflect stimulus characteristics of the prepulse.     

A Buddhist Perspective on Industrial Engineering and the Design of Work

The modern way of life is highly dependent upon the production of goods by industrial organizations that are in turn dependent upon their workers for their ongoing operations. Even though more than a century has passed since the dawn of the industrial revolution, many dangerous aspects of work, both physical and mental, remain in the workplace today. Using Buddhist philosophical principles, this paper suggests that although many sources of the problem reside within the larger society, the industrial engineer is still a key factor in bettering work and providing a workplace suitable for their fellow workers. Drawing on these insights, we present a number of work design guidelines that industrial engineers who abide by Buddhist principles could practice to help overcome some of the many sufferings produced by modern work.