Effects of systemic glucose injection on the development of amygdala kindling in rats.

The effects of systemic glucose administration on the development of electric amygdaloid kindling seizures were examined in Wistar rats. Daily intraperitoneal injections of glucose 100 mg/kg, 20 min prior to each amygdaloid stimulation did affect the rate of kindling development in comparison with the saline-injected group. The number of stimulations required to reach stage 5 was lower in animals treated with glucose. The facilitation of kindling development found in glucose-treated rats is related to a specific decrease in the number of stimulations needed to evolve from stage 2 to stage 3. These results indicate that systemic glucose administration facilitates amygdaloid kindling in rats.     

Assessment of long-term psychosocial sequelae among POW survivors of the Korean Conflict

Psychological and psychiatric assessments were performed among 20 prisoner-of-war (POW) Korean-Conflict survivors. Results revealed extraordinary biological and psychological abuse with weight losses exceeding 35% of preservice weights and long-term cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sequelae. The full range of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms was seen in 90% to 100% of the cases with high prevalence of co-morbidity, specifically mood (75%), other anxiety (45%), and alcohol abuse (20%) disorders. Documented by clinical investigators at POW release and now more than 30 years later, symptoms of apprehensiveness, confusion, detachment, and depression reflect the persistence of psychiatric morbidity over time.     

Disruption of semantic influence on writing following a left prefrontal lesion

We report a patient with impaired spontaneous writing, written naming, and homophone spelling, consistent with a disruption of semantic influence on writing. However, writing to dictation by both the phonological and lexical spelling systems was intact. In addition, general semantic abilities were spared, as indicated by preserved auditory and reading comprehension. We propose that our patient could not incorporate meaning into writing because of a disruption of both direct and indirect connections between semantics and the orthographic output lexicon. The writing dysfunction was accompanied by a similar impairment of speech output, suggesting that it was part of a more general disturbance of semantic influence on language production following left prefrontal damage.     

From letters to words: Procedures for word recognition in letter-by-letter reading

There are two alternative interpretations of how word recognition is accomplished in letter-by-letter reading. One postulates that it relies on the spelling system operating "in reverse," whereas the other claims that it is mediated by the reading system. Because of the close association between patterns of reading and spelling in previously reported cases of letter-by-letter reading, both hypotheses may be considered equally plausible. We now report a patient with letter-by-letter reading who demonstrated a striking dissociation between reading and spelling. Our observations in this patient argue against the concept of "reading via spelling" and suggest that word recognition in letter-by-letter reading is mediated by the orthographic input lexicon used in normal reading.     

The evolution of mental disturbances in the concentration camp syndrome (KZ-syndrom)

As a result of long-term clinical research on former prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps, I analyzed the evolution of the clinical and psychopathological pattern of the KZ-syndrome. One can differentiate the following characteristic phases: psychosomatic inanition, latency of disease, personality and adaptation disturbances, a pseudo-neurotic and depressive phase, premature aging, and an organic phase. The stigma of KZ-syndrome is present in a second generation in different forms: personality disturbances, emotional and/or social immaturity, social disadaptation, higher frequency of neurotic states, divorce, alcoholism, and suicide. The camp stress has left in human nature traces so painful that they cannot disappear when the generation of former prisoners is gone.     

COMPARING RECRUITER, STUDENT, AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF IMPORTANT APPLICANT AND JOB CHARACTERISTICS

This study investigated the extent to which corporate recruiters, students and faculty share an understanding of important job applicant characteristics and desirable job factors. Multivariate analyses revealed significant differences between the three groups. The implications of these findings for recruitment, selection, and career counseling are discussed.     

The Family and the School: Utilizing Human Resources to Promote Learning

There is a continuing challenge in our complex society to bridge the gaps that exist between various subsystems. Only by overcoming segmentation can common problems be mutually addressed and the full resources of each subsystem be utilized in finding viable solutions. The project described here brings together members of the family with public school professional staff and a consultant from a family therapy unit. Each system learns from and about the others in an open, sharing environment. The processes of family therapy are utilized with the goals of reversing maladaptive school behavior of children and facilitating constructive interactions both between the family and the school and among school personnel.
The uniqueness in this effort lies in the treatment of the staff of a school as a live, dynamic, interacting system having some of the characteristics of a family. The need for mutual respect on the part of consultant and school personnel is documented. Defining and observing boundaries, clarifying roles and creating a non-critical atmosphere provide the security that permits and encourages individuals to share relevant material within agreed-upon parameters.
Changes in traditional practices have been achieved. School psychologists have taken on new roles while principals and staffs have learned new techniques and skills for relating to each other and for approaching family-based school learning problems. The non-blaming approach recognizes the child as a member of both a family and school organization. Bringing the family and the school together for dialogue and planning unburdens the child as a conveyor of information and values between the two systems. Thus far, there have been substantial benefits from the project to the schools, to the families, and to the body of professional knowledge from which we all learn and grow.     

Covariation, discounting, and augmentation: Towards a clarification of attributional principles

Two experiments were conducted to examine the interrelation of the attributional principles of covariation, discounting, and augmentation. In Experiment 1 the presence (vs. absence) of covariation information was manipulated orthogonally to the number of plausible causes for an effect (one vs. two). In Experiment 2 the number of plausible causes for an effect (one vs. two) was manipulated orthogonally to the presence (vs. absence) of an inhibitory factor. The major findings of this research were interpreted to mean that the covariation principle may be applied concomitantly with the discounting principle and that the latter principle pertains to a different aspect of the attributional process than does the augmentation principle. Implications of these findings for the further development of attribution theory were considered.     

Perceptual similarity of mirror images in infancy

Perception of mirror images by three-to four-month infants was studied in five experiments using habituation paradigms. In the first experiment, babies discriminated right profiles of two different faces but not the left and right profile of the same face. In the second, babies discriminated a 45° oblique from a vertical line, but not the oblique from its mirror image. In the third, babies discriminated oblique lines that differed by 50° and were not mirror images. In the final experiments. 90° rotations of a ?-shape were discriminated but not 180° rotations that formed lateral or vertical mirror images. These results demonstrated that although babies were able to discriminate differences in orientation (even among obliques) they tended to view mirror images, especially lateral mirror images, as equivalent stimuli. We propose that the perceptual equivalence of mirror images reflects an adaptive mode of visual processing; mirror images in nature are almost always aspects of the same object, and they usually need not be discriminated. The relations of the perceptual similarity of mirror images to the ontogeny of the object concept and to the development of reading are discussed.     

Differential runway performance using goal box placement and running trials as discriminative stimuli

Two experiments compared the effects of reinforced, partially reinforced and nonreinforced intertrial goal box placements (ITR, ITP, and ITN respectively) on runway performance. In Experiment I differential responding (animals running slower on nonreinforced (N) trials than on reinforced (R) trials) was observed during acquisition for subjects receiving ITP preceding N trials or subjects receiving ITP before R trials, and also for subjects receiving ITR preceding N trials. No differential responding was observed in subjects receiving ITP prior to both N and R trials or ITN prior to N trials. In extinction, the subjects which had responded differentially during acquisition demonstrated reduced resistance to extinction in comparison to the subjects which had not. In Experiment II, a 2 × 2 factorial design was utilized with placement schedule (ITN and ITP) and type of trial predicted by placement (N and R) serving as the factors. Differential responding was observed in all four groups. The apparent contradiction between the results and the discrimination hypothesis proposed by Capaldi and Olivier (1967) to explain the attenuation of ITR and ITN effects on resistance to extinction is discussed.