TESTICULAR SELF-EXAMINATION: VALIDATION OF A TRAINING STRATEGY FOR EARLY CANCER DETECTION

Testicular self-examination (TSE) can lead to early diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer, the third leading cause of death in young men. We evaluated the effectiveness of a brief and specific checklist for teaching TSE skills. Ten men were videotaped while performing testicular self-examinations before and after training. The TSE training resulted in large and significant increases in the number of TSE steps completed and duration of the TSE. Two urological validation measures supported the improvements observed in the mens' self-examinations. Subjects reported continued performance of TSE during a follow-up telephone interview. This pilot study indicates that a brief and specific checklist is an effective strategy for teaching early cancer detection skills.     

Response stereotypy without automaticity: Not quite involuntary attention in the pigeon

Previous research has shown that when pigeons are required to peck each of two keys four times in any order for reinforcement, stereotyped response sequences develop, though they are not required by the task. However, despite this stereotypy, sequences are not automatized. They require sufficient attention that sequence performance is disrupted by a concurrent, delayed matching-to-sample task. In the present experiments, pigeons were required to execute response sequences and delayed matching-to-sample concurrently. Experiment 1 showed that the matching task disrupts sequence performance even when the matching sample stimuli do not have to be processed concurrently with sequence execution. The presence of sample stimuli during sequence execution seems to command attention even if the sample stimuli are also available for processing when sequences are not being executed. Experiment 2 used the directed forgetting technique to show that pigeons do seem able to ignore sample stimuli if they are given information that tells them they will not be required to remember those stimuli later. Together, the experiments suggest attentional mechanisms in the pigeon that are not quite involuntary.     

Words and hemifields: do the hemispheres enjoy equal opportunity?

A common technique in research into cerebral asymmetry in both normal and clinical populations involves the use of lateralized visual displays. The validity of this approach depends on several generally implicit assumptions about the character of the cognitive processes involved. For example, when words are used as stimuli, cognitive processing is assumed to involve either "whole-word" or "ends-in" analysis. In this way, both hemispheres are assumed to have equal opportunities to recognize the word. These assumptions are critical, because if they are wrong, explanations based on established perceptual principles may provide a sufficient and more parsimonious explanation for hemifield asymmetries than hemispheric specialization theories. This point is developed and illustrated with particular reference to word recognition and classification. From a purely perceptual viewpoint, the right visual field advantage observed in tasks using word stimuli is to be expected given the presence of systematic biases in favor of initial characters or features of words and the relationship between retinal eccentricity and visual acuity. In other words, there is no need nor justification for a hemispheric account of visual field differences in such tasks. Some of the limiting conditions and theoretical implications of this argument are identified and discussed.     

Voice onset time in aphasia: Thai II. Production

The aim of this study was to investigate voice onset time (VOT) production in homorganic word-initial stops in Thai in order to explore the nature of speech production deficits across clinical varieties of aphasia. Thai exhibits a three-category distinction in bilabial (/b,p,ph/) and alveolar (/d,t,t,h/) stops, and a two-category distinction in velar (/k,kh/) stops. Subjects included three Broca asphasics, one transcortical motor asphasic, two global asphasics, one conduction aphasic, one Wernicke aphasic, one nonaphasic dysarthric patient, one right-brain-damaged patient, and five normal controls. Test stimuli consisted of eight monosyllabic real words. The results of VOT measurements indicated that Broca and global asphasics exhibited a more severe production disorder than Wernicke, conduction, or transcortical motor asphasics. The right-brain-damaged patient showed no impairment in VOT production. Comparisons are drawn to earlier studies of VOT production in aphasia in two-category languages. Issues concerning the underlying basis of the production deficit for nonfluent aphasics, fluent aphasics, and nonaphasic dysarthrics as well as the relation between perception and production of VOT are discussed.     

Psychopathology in anxiety disorders

Complaints of anxiety, often meetingDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. (DSM-III), criteria for anxiety disorder, are among the most common problems presenting to health practitioners. In spite of the frequency of anxiety and anxiety disorders, little is known about the basic psychopathology of these conditions that would lead to the development of more efficient and effective treatments and possible preventive efforts. Recently, there has been an increase in research on the psychopathology of anxiety disorders from biological, psychological, and social perspectives. The National Institute of Mental Health's Clinical Research Branch sponsored a 2-day workshop of investigators representing diverse research approaches to discuss emerging issues and research practices within the anxiety disorders. Discussions centered on a review of the general areas of classification, phenomenology, and etiology. A selective summary of this workshop is presented along with recommendations for specific research directions.