Anterior temporal cortex and semantic memory: Reconciling findings from neuropsychology and functional imaging

Studies of semantic impairment arising from brain disease suggest that the anterior temporal lobes are critical for semantic abilities in humans; yet activation of these regions is rarely reported in functional imaging studies of healthy controls performing semantic tasks. Here, we combined neuropsychological and PE T functional imaging data to show that when healthy subjects identify concepts at a specific level, the regions activated correspond to the site of maximal atrophy in patients with relatively pure semantic impairment. The stimuli were color photographs of common animals or vehicles, and the task was category verification at specific (e.g., robin), intermediate (e.g., bird), or general (e.g., animal) levels. Specific, relative to general, categorization activated the antero-lateral temporal cortices bilaterally, despite matching of these experimental conditions for difficulty. Critically, in patients with atrophy in precisely these areas, the most pronounced deficit was in the retrieval of specific semantic information.     

Functional imaging of the semantic system: retrieval of sensory-experienced and verbally learned knowledge

This paper considers how functional neuro-imaging can be used to investigate the organization of the semantic system and the limitations associated with this technique. The majority of the functional imaging studies of the semantic system have looked for divisions by varying stimulus category. These studies have led to divergent results and no clear anatomical hypotheses have emerged to account for the dissociations seen in behavioral studies. Only a few functional imaging studies have used task as a variable to differentiate the neural correlates of semantic features more directly. We extend these findings by presenting a new study that contrasts tasks that differentially weight sensory (color and taste) and verbally learned (origin) semantic features. Irrespective of the type of semantic feature retrieved, a common semantic system was activated as demonstrated in many previous studies. In addition, the retrieval of verbally learned, but not sensory-experienced, features enhanced activation in medial and lateral posterior parietal areas. We attribute these "verbally learned" effects to differences in retrieval strategy and conclude that evidence for segregation of semantic features at an anatomical level remains weak. We believe that functional imaging has the potential to increase our understanding of the neuronal infrastructure that sustains semantic processing but progress may require multiple experiments until a consistent explanatory framework emerges.     

Experimental approaches to developmental dyslexia: An introduction

Summary The nine papers on reading processes and problems collected together in this issue are discussed and related to each other. The studies all share a theoretical framework which is based on models of cognitive psychology and experimental methods developed in this area. A single major hypothesis emerges from these studies on the nature of developmental dyslexia. In its weak form the hypothesis suggests a phonological deficit, in its strong form a specific deficit in speech-motor programming. While other determinants of reading failure are not ruled out, the evidence from the various independent experiments allows the surprisingly parsimonious interpretation of developmental dyslexia as a type of speech problem.     

Laboratory instruments in the history of psychology

The importance of laboratory instruments as sources for the writing of the history of psychology is stressed, and illustrated through the use of examples where their study has been profitable. Most importantly, the role of the Hipp chronoscope in the reaction-time experiment is discussed, and the importance of various changes introduced into its design by James McKeen Cattell is shown. A photograph, first exhibited by the Department of Psychology of Clark University at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago is included, and further illustrates the importance of these instruments to historians.     

Position effects in encoding briefly exposed item matrices: evidence for a reading bias or merely a matter of the selection criterion?

Position effects are frequently reported in experiments that investigate the recognition of items from briefly exposed stimulus matrices. A reliable finding is the ability to report items from the first row of the matrix more accurately than from the second row. The present experiments explore whether this position effect depends upon the selection criterion used to indicate the subgroup of items that has to be reported in a given trial. In Experiment 1, German and Chinese participants were presented with language-specific items which had to be selected by column. In Experiment 2, Germans were presented with Latin letters and the selection criterion was letter color. A strong row effect was evident in both experiments although the selection criteria did not prompt a line-by-line grouping of the items. The row effect is seen as a manifestation of top-down processing that is derived from reading habits.     

Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen und Behandlungspraxis bei persönlichkeitsgestörten Straftätern in den Niederlanden

Zusammenfassung   Die Behandlung pers?nlichkeitsgest?rter Straft?ter, die in den Niederlanden haupts?chlich dem Ma?regelvollzug obliegt, steht durch die Forderung von Politik und ?ffentlichkeit nach maximaler Sicherheit der Allgemeinheit momentan unter st?ndigem Druck. Gleichzeitig finden im Ma?regelvollzug Entwicklungen statt, die gew?hrleisten sollen, dass der Sektor seine prim?re Aufgabe, die Gesellschaft vor rückfallgef?hrdeten Straft?tern zu schützen, besser erfüllen kann. Dabei wird ebenfalls versucht, den unterschiedlichen Sicherungs- und Behandlungsbedürfnissen der verschiedenen Patientengruppen durch ein differenziertes, wissenschaftlich fundiertes Behandlungsangebot gerecht zu werden. In diesem Beitrag werden die Errungenschaften in der Behandlung psychisch gest?rter Straft?ter beschrieben und es wird erl?utert, inwieweit die Panikmache von Politik und Medien die gemachten Fortschritte zu untergraben droht.      

Memory coding for binary sequences in children

Some differences in the efficiency of coding were found between 4- and 6-year-olds. However, it appeared that the coding strategies were similar at lower and higher levels of memory capacity and development.     

The issue of human existence as represented in dreaming: A new Daseinsanalytic interpretation of the meaning of dreams

Abstract

Dreams are associated with those issues of our waking life which preoccupy us emotionally. According to our Daseinsanalytic view, however, the issue that concerns us while dreaming is actually not the concrete worrying matter itself, but its existential dimension. This view is based on Martin Heidegger's concept of human being as that being to which its own being is an issue. It means that all feeling and understanding dealing with concrete issues concurrently refer to fundamental issues of our existence. Dreaming though, we are focused entirely on the fundamental aspects. Dreams show the very individual and specific struggle of the dreamer with certain conditions of human life, which he or she is unable or unwilling to accept because they seem too difficult to endure. I want to demonstrate this method of interpretation on a dream of a depressive patient. The example illustrates that the concerns of dreaming are rooted in and refer to an existential dilemma that is hidden in the concrete difficulties of waking life and represented in the concrete dream events. In addition, it gives us the opportunity to inquire into the specificity of the fundamental dilemma of a personality with a “depressive view” of the world.