Right-hemispheric dominance for processing extended non-linguistic frequency transitions

The left hemisphere is specialized for most linguistic tasks and the right hemisphere is specialized for many non-linguistic tasks, but the cause of these functional asymmetries is unknown. One of the stimulus factors that appears to influence these asymmetries is the rate at which stimuli change. In the present experiment, 41 participants completed the Fused Dichotic Words Test (FDWT) and a non-linguistic Frequency Transition Task (FTT) wherein the Frequency Transitions (FTs) were either rapid (40 ms) or relatively slow (200 ms). There was a right hemisphere advantage for slow FTs when the change was at the front of the stimulus, but no corresponding left hemisphere advantage for the rapid FTs. There was no relationship between either FTT and the left hemisphere advantage exhibited on the FDWT. This finding provides support for the position that the right hemisphere dominates tasks that require temporal processing over relatively long periods of time.     

Effects of iron deficiency in infancy on patterns of motor development over time

This longitudinal study of the effects of iron deficiency in infancy assessed motor development over time in 185 healthy Costa Rican children who varied in iron status at 12-23 months. Longitudinal analyses (hierarchical linear modeling) used the Bayley Psychomotor Index before and both 1 week and 3 months after iron treatment in infancy and the Bruninks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency - long form at 5 years and short form at 11-14 years. Children with chronic severe iron deficiency in infancy had lower motor scores at the beginning of the study and a lower but parallel trajectory for motor scores through early adolescence. Thus, there was no evidence of catch-up in motor development, despite iron therapy in infancy that corrected iron deficiency anemia in all cases.     

Angioedema and maculopapular eruptions associated with carbamazepine administration

Cutaneous rashes and eruptions can be caused by many medications, including carbamazepine. The presentation can be varied depending on severity. Cutaneous eruptions occur in 3% of individuals administered carbamazepine. Angioedema, a rare side effect of carbamazepine, involves vascular leakage in dermis and subcutis mediated by immunoglobulin E and/or bradykinins. Angioedema is more common in females and in the third decade of life. We report the case of a 27-year-old Indian woman who developed maculopapular rash and angioedema secondary to carbamazepine administration. The patient responded successfully to withdrawal of the drug and treatment with antihistamines. Due to the potentially life-threatening complications of this condition and the increasing use of anticonvulsants in the treatment of mood disorders, psychiatrists must be aware of the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.     

Self-regulation and inhibition in comorbid ADHD children: an evaluation of executive functions

The relationship between executive function and comorbid diagnoses in ADHD children is examined. One hundred six children between 7 and 15 years of age are assessed using the Tower of London (TOL), a test of executive function, and the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Present and Lifetime Version, a diagnostic interview. All children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. A majority of the children had comorbid anxiety disorders, mood disorders, or oppositional defiant disorder. Measures on the TOL are total move score, total initiation time, and total rule violations. Age is predictive in all three measures of executive function as assessed by the TOL. Gender is predictive of total initiation time and total rule violations. Comorbid disorders are found to not have significance on executive function as measured by the TOL. This study concludes that comorbid disorders may not affect executive function.     

Men are more accurate than women in aiming at targets in both near space and extrapersonal space

Men excel at motor tasks requiring aiming accuracy whereas women excel at different tasks requiring fine motor skill. However, these tasks are confounded with proximity to the body, as fine motor tasks are performed proximally and aiming tasks are directed at distal targets. As such, it is not known whether the male advantage on tasks requiring aiming accuracy is because men have better aim or is better in the proximal domain in which the task is usually presented. 18 men (M age = 20.6 yr., SD = 3.0) and 20 women (M age = 18.7 yr., SD = 0.9) performed 2 tasks of extrapersonal aiming accuracy (>2 m away), 2 tasks of aiming accuracy performed in near space (< 1 m from them), and a task of fine motor skill. Men outperformed women on both the extrapersonal aiming tasks, and women outperformed men on the task of fine motor skill. However, a male advantage was observed for one of the aiming tasks performed in near space, suggesting that the male advantage for aiming accuracy does not result from proximity.     

Novel stimuli are negative stimuli: evidence that negative affect is reduced in the mere exposure effect

Repeated exposure of a nonreinforced stimulus results in an increased preference for that stimulus, the mere exposure effect. The present study repeatedly presented positive, negative, and neutrally affective faces to 48 participants while they made judgments about the emotional expression. Participants then rated the likeability of novel neutrally expressive faces and some of these previously presented faces, this time in their neutral expression. Faces originally presented as happy were rated as the most likeable, followed by faces originally presented as neutral. Negative and novel faces were not rated significantly differently from each other. These findings support the notion that the increase in preference towards repeatedly presented stimuli is the result of the reduction in negative affect, consistent with the modified two-factor uncertainty-reduction model and classical conditioning model of the mere exposure effect.     

Lateral biases in assumptions of lighting position

People presume that the light source in pictures comes from above, and there is some evidence that this phenomenon also demonstrates lateral biases. When investigators present multiple ambiguous stimuli or visually complex objects, people assume that the source of light is from above, and to the left. However, when single relatively simple stimuli are presented, this lateral bias is not readily observed. To investigate whether lateral bias is dependent on the number of stimuli presented, the present experiment employs a within-subjects design to present single spheres or pairs of spheres. Contrary to our expectations, leftward biases were exhibited in both the single-sphere condition and the paired-spheres condition. Single spheres that were lit from the left were more likely to be judged as convex than comparable spheres lit from the right. Similarly, when pairs of laterally lit spheres were presented and participants were asked to judge which sphere appeared to be more convex, participants chose spheres lit from the left regardless of the angle of illumination. Collectively, these results suggest that there are lateral biases in assumptions of illumination position and that these biases do not depend on the number of stimuli being perceived at any given time.     

Laterality of phonological working memory: dependence on type of stimulus,memory load,and sex

Investigations of the laterality of phonological working memory have not always yielded consistent results. The present experiment investigated working memory for letters and numbers in two memory load conditions. In the low load condition, working memory for letters and numbers was similar. However, in the high load condition, males were more accurate at the recall of letters. This effect was not observed with numbers, in which both sexes performed more poorly. Furthermore, we observed consistent RVF advantages for both tasks, although males were more asymmetrical for the recall of letters and females were more asymmetrical for the recall of numbers. This result indicates that laterality of working memory for letters and numbers differs, and these asymmetries depend upon the sex of the participant.     

Personality traits in people with synaesthesia: Do synaesthetes have an atypical personality profile?

People with synaesthesia not only have – by definition – unusual experiences (e.g., numbers triggering colour), they also have a different cognitive profile (e.g., in terms of their memory and perceptual abilities) and a bias towards certain interests and activities (e.g., towards the arts). However, virtually nothing is known about whether synaesthetes have an atypical personality profile. In this study, a standard measure of personality was administered (Big Five Inventory) along with two questionnaire measures of empathy. Synaesthetes, relative to demographically matched controls, reported higher levels of ‘Openness to Experience’ which is known to be related to imagination and artistic tendencies. They also reported higher levels of ‘Fantasizing’ on one of the empathy measures, which is conceptually related to Openness, although their self-reported empathy did not differ in other respects. In addition, synaesthetes reported lower levels of Agreeableness which we did not predict in advance.