Dyskinesias differentiate autistic disorder from catatonia

Autistic disorder and catatonia are neuropsychiatric syndromes defined by impairments in social interaction, communication, and restricted, stereotypical motor routines. Assessments of children with these disorders are typically restricted in scope by the patients' limited ability to comprehend directions. The authors performed systematic assessments of dyskinesias on six prepubertal boys with autistic disorder and mental retardation and on one adolescent male with catatonia to determine if this type of information could be routinely obtained. The boys with autistic disorder had more stereotypies and tics, a greater degree of akathisia and hyperactivity, and more compulsions than the adolescent with catatonia. Catatonia was associated with catalepsy and dystonic postures. The authors conclude that the diagnostic accuracy and specificity of neuropsychiatric syndromes may be enhanced by the systematic assessment of the dyskinesias associated with each condition.     

The use of genetic test information in insurance: The argument from indistinguishability reconsidered

In the bioethical literature, discrimination in insurance on the basis of genetic risk factors detected by genetic testing has been defended and opposed on various ethical grounds. One important argument in favour of the practice is offered by those who believe that it is not possible to distinguish between genetic and non-genetic information, at least not for practical policy purposes such as insurance decision-making. According to the argument from indistinguishability, the use of genetic test information for insurance purposes should be permitted, because genetic test information is no different from non-genetic medical information in any relevant respect, therefore it would be inconsistent to prohibit the former whilst permitting the latter. This paper discusses and defends this argument and suggests a new, more tenable foundation.     

Subjective organization and the visibility of illusory contours

The effects of the differential organization of a Necker cube on the perceived salience of an embedded illusory triangle were examined. Overall figural salience was greater when the triangle appeared to be localized on the front rather than the back cube face. Illusory contour salience also increased with increasing inducing area contrast and was greater when the figure was oriented on cardinal as compared to oblique coordinates. However, the latter effects were independent of perceived location within the cube. The finding that subjective organizational and structural factors influenced the perceived salience of the illusory figure but did not interact is consistent with van Tuijl and Leeuwenberg's (1982) suggestion that top-down and bottom-up determinants can operate independently in illusory contour perception.     

The task-specific nature of domain-general reasoning

This paper develops a theory of how interpretative processes constrain inferential performance on conditional reasoning tasks. Experiment 1 investigated the hypothesis that performance on common reasoning tasks is mediated by different interpretive variables. Necessity and sufficiency relations predicted performance on the conditional arguments task, whereas on the Wason task, performance was predicted by whether the conditional statement instantiated a deontic or a factual relation. Performance on the truth-table task was predicted by both sets of variables. Experiment 2 explored the mapping relation between interpretation, representation, and inference. It was observed that conditional responses to the Wason and arguments tasks were based on different representations of the conditional relationship. These data rule out a simple model of the interplay between interpretation and reasoning in which the interpretation of a statement is driven solely by its content, and instead, indicate that the interpretation of conditional relations is task-specific.     

Contrast effects do not underlie effects of preceding liquids on stop-consonant identification by humans

These experiments explored the claim by A. Lotto and K. Kluender (1998) that frequency contrast explains listeners' compensations for coarticulation in the case of liquid consonants coarticulating with following stops. Evidence of frequency contrast in experiments that tested for it directly was not found, but Lotto and Kluender's finding that high- and low-frequency precursor tones can produce contrastive effects on stop-consonant judgments were replicated. The effect depends on the amplitude relation of the tones to the third formant (F3) of the stops. This implies that the tones mask F3 information in the stop consonants. It is unknown whether liquids and following stops in natural speech are in an appropriate intensity relation for masking of the stop. A final experiment, exploiting the McGurk effect, showed compensation for coarticulation by listeners when neither frequency contrast nor masking can be the source of the compensations.     

Impact of genetic testing on causal models of heart disease and arthritis: An analogue study

Abstract An analogue study investigated the impact of genetic testing on perceptions of disease. Using a 2 × 2 design, participants (n = 212) imagined receiving the information that they were at increased risk for either heart disease or arthritis. The type of risk information was either genetic or unspecified. Presentation of genetic risk information resulted in the condition being perceived as less preventable. Causal models of disease where investigated using principal components analysis. When hem disease was the stimulus condition, attributions to genes and chance were positively associated following unspecified risk information, and negatively associated following genetic risk information. When arthritis was the stimulus condition, presentation of genetic risk information was associated with attributions to genes becoming separated from the other attributions. One explanation for this is that providing genetic risk information may decrease perceptions of a sense of randomness or uncertainty in disease causation. The extent to which these effects occur in clinical populations. and their behavioural consequences. needs to be established.     

Autonomic ganglionic neurones in rabbits with differing resistance to emotional stress

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reactions of autonomic neurones of the nodose ganglion of the vagus nerve, and the stellate and superior cervical ganglia in rabbits under emotional stress, and to correlate these reactions with the individual variations in responses to the stressor. Emotional stress was induced in immobilized adult male Chinchilla rabbits by electrical stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus and skin. During the experiment (3 hours) arterial blood pressure (BP) was recorded. Metabolic activities of the stellate and superior cervical sympathetic ganglia and nodose ganglion were measured as contents of biogenic amines and their synthesizing and degrading enzymes, neuronal size and dry mass and total RNA; these corresponded to the changes in BP. One group of rabbits showed small fluctuations of BP throughout the experiment and were defined as resistant to stress, whereas in the other group (predisposed to stress) BP progressively decreased. In the former, there was a smaller increase of sympathetic and nodose ganglia metabolic activity than in the latter, in which changes included reduced neuronal dry mass, increased RNA content compared with controls, and reduced tyrosine hydroxylase activity and increased norepinephrine content compare with controls and stress- resistant rabbits. The predisposed rabbits showed earlier and greater increases in circulating norepinephrine concentrations than the resistant rabbits, indicating sustained sympathetic activation. The data indicate that the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system are part of a major mechanism of BP regulation under acute experimental emotional/painful stress. The nodose ganglion participates in the maintenance of stable cardiovascular function in extreme conditions.     

The application of anticipatory avoidance learning to the treatment of homosexuality. 3. The sexual orientation method

A questionnaire technique of assessing the relative levels of homo- and hetero-erotic orientation has been constructed as part of a research project on the treatment of homosexuality by anticipatory avoidance learning. In the construction and scoring of this, the authors have borrowed from the semantic differential and personal questionnaire techniques. The technique, termed the Sexual Orientation Method (S.O.M.), is fully described and data are presented on internal consistency, uni-dimensionality, reliability and validity. The S.O.M. is intended as a quick and reasonably accurate quantitative method of assessing the response to treatment of patients known to be homosexual, and not as a method of detecting homosexuality in those not otherwise presenting with it. Applications of the scale to the assessment of changes due to treatment of sexual deviations other than homosexuality are readily possible.