The evolution of alexia in two cases of posterior cortical atrophy

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is an uncommon presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD), characterised by prevalent anatomo-functional involvement of posterior cortical areas. Accordingly, the main clinical features at onset are disorders of high-order visual processing, such as alexia and impairments of visuo-spatial and visuo-constructional abilities. The clinical features in the early stages of disease are variable, and they have been suggested to stem from prevalent ventral or dorsal brain pathology, and/or asymmetric hemispheric involvement. With disease progression, these differences tend to blur with the increasing severity of neuropsychological dysfunction. We report two PCA patients showing different patterns of reading impairment (respectively, letter-by-letter reading and neglect dyslexia). A follow-up study suggested that the qualitative features of alexia remain distinctive with disease evolution. In addition, single photon emission tomography (SPECT) studies revealed different patterns of hypoperfusion, consistent with the alexia types. A careful reading assessment can provide important insights to the pattern of progression of the disease in patients with PCA up to the late stages of the pathology.     

Extraversion and accuracy of aspects of memory for pain in the cold water pressor test

The role of Erlebnistypus personality features were investigated in 40 healthy subjects, as defined by the Rorschach Comprehensive System by Exner, in determining accuracy in recollecting acute tonic experimental pain, induced by the Cold Water Pressor Test. Multiple-regression analysis revealed that the difference between the number of movement answers and the number of chromatic answers in the Rorschach test, an index of general Extroversion, predicted accuracy in recollecting the qualitative features of pain, defined as affective and evaluative pain scores on the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Also, Extratensive subjects were less accurate than Introversive and Ambitent participants at recollecting sensory scores. The data suggest that general extroversion may have a role in individual differences in the higher cognitive processing of pain comprising pain memory.     

Categorization by groups and individuals

Categorization is a core psychological process that is central to decision making. While a substantial amount of research has been conducted to examine individual categorization behavior, little is known about how the outputs of individual and group categorization may differ. Four experiments demonstrate that group categorization differs systematically from individual categorization in the structural dimension of category breadth: categorizing the same set of items, groups tend to create a larger number of smaller categories than individuals. This effect of social context is a function of both taskwork and teamwork. In terms of taskwork, groups’ greater available knowledge mediates differences in category breadth between individuals and groups by increasing utilized knowledge (study 2). In terms of teamwork, task conflict moderates the effect of social context on category breadth (study 3). Moreover, the experience of categorizing individually or in a group influences individuals’ subsequent judgments (study 4).     

Metaphor comprehension in Alzheimer's disease: novelty matters

The comprehension of non-literal language was investigated in 20 probable Alzheimer's disease (pAD) patients by comparing their performance to that of 20 matched control subjects. pAD patients were unimpaired in the comprehension of conventional metaphors and idioms. However, their performance was significantly lower in the case of non-conventional (novel) metaphor comprehension. This ability was not related to global cognitive deterioration or to deficits in the cognitive domains of attention, memory and language comprehension. On the other hand, the impairment in verbal reasoning appeared to be relevant for both novel and conventional metaphor comprehension. The relationship between novel metaphor comprehension and performance in the visual-spatial planning task of the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) suggests that executive impairment, possibly related to prefrontal dysfunction, may be responsible for the pAD patients' poor performance in novel metaphor comprehension. The present findings suggest a role of the prefrontal cortex in novel metaphor comprehension.     

MODAL MONSTERS AND TALK ABOUT FICTION

This paper argues in favor of a treatment of discourse about fiction in terms of operators on character, that is, Kaplanesque ‘monsters’. The first three sections criticize the traditional analysis of ‘according to the fiction’ as an intensional operator, and the approach to fictional discourse grounded on the notion of contextual shifts. The final sections explain how an analysis in terms of monsters yields the correct readings for a variety of examples involving modal and temporal indexicals.     

Narcissism, solitude, friendship: notes on the therapeutic alliance in the context of the Freud-Jung relationship

This paper deals with friendship and therapeutic alliance as a transformation of the libidinal love that structures the Oedipal complex. The author considers the relationship between Jung and Freud as a formidable test that may shed light on their personalities and on the relevance of the Oedipal complex for both of them and for their particular theories and practices. The author discusses the possibility that the Oedipal complex may be seen under a finalistic frame of reference and discusses which implicit goals it may express. Such a goal has not been reached by either Freud nor Jung, but might be the key to underline and recognize the fundamental importance of the 'therapeutic alliance' within the analytical situation, seen as a potential relationship between the selves of the patient and of the analyst springing from a transformation of libidinal love into 'friendship' as it was described by Friedrich Nietzsche.     

The triadic legitimacy model: Understanding support to disobedient groups

In a social-psychological perspective, many scholars have argued that disobedience plays a significant role in avoiding the degeneration of the authority into autocracy and in promoting social change. In particular, the tripolar model (minority-majority-population) proposed by Mugny (1982) emphasized the role of the population for the stability or the progress of every society. Authority may indeed preserve the status quo only on the grounds of its influence on a large population. Likewise, protesters may achieve social change only by influencing and involving a large part of the population in their struggles. In understanding why people decide to join a protest, the aim of this article is to integrate Kelman and Hamilton's (1989) analysis of legitimacy with the tripolar model on social influence. The model we propose – namely the triadic legitimacy model (TLM) – explains the dialectic between social stability and social change by considering both authority's and disobedient groups' legitimacies.     

Substitutivity,Obstinacy, and the Case of Giorgione

In this essay, I propose an analysis of Quine’s example ’Giorgione was so-called because of his size’, grounded on the idea of an obstinate demonstrative. In the first sections, I discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the demonstrative and logophoric treatments of ‘so called’, I highlight certain parallelisms with Davidson’s paratactic view of quotation, and I introduce independent considerations in favor of the idea of an obstinate demonstrative. In the second half of my essay, I apply this notion to Quine’s example, and I discuss its consequences with respect to the principle of substitutivity of coreferential singular terms.     

Ethical recommendations for workers on aggression and predation in animals

The recommendations of a recent workshop (Leiden, Netherlands, November 17–18, 1990) concerning the use of animals in research on aggression and predation are listed. Major considerations included the grade of organisation/level of development of the organism, the duration and intensity of the interaction, post-treatment factors, the number of animals and reuse of animals. It is hoped that the recommendations will help scientists working in these areas to consider the increasingly important ethical dimension.     

Stimulus-dominance effects and lateral asymmetries for language in normal subjects and in patients with a single functional hemisphere

The assessment of language laterality by the dichotic fused-words test may be impaired by interference effects revealed by the dominant report of one member of the stimuli-pair. Stimulus-dominance and ear asymmetry were evaluated in normal population (48 subjects of both sex and handedness) and in 2 patients with a single functional hemisphere. Results show that in normals the number of stimulus-dominated responses is five times higher than in patients, and is negatively correlated to the index of laterality. It is suggested that dichotic stimuli may interfere one with another during the subcortical acoustic processing and at cortical level, when competing for verbal output. Subcortical interference accounts for stimulus-dominance in the single-hemisphere patients. In normal subjects, the dichotic discrimination is disturbed mainly during the hemispheric cross-talk needed for the oral-verbal processing of dichotic inputs. The frequency of 'interhemispheric' interference, as well as the extents of ear asymmetry, may both depend on differences in the processing stage of the competing inputs, and then they may be influenced by differential verbal skills of LH and RH. Very unequal levels of verbal analysis of the dichotic stimuli may hinder reciprocal interference during the hemispheric cross-talk thus yielding large ear asymmetries associated to small dominance effects.