Neural mechanisms underlying stuttering: Evidence from bimanual handwriting performance

Left- and right-handed male and female stutterers were compared with fluent speakers on a bimanual handwriting task. On each trial four words were read to the subject. After repeating the words, subjects had to write the initial letters as quickly as possible using the two hands simultaneously and without visual guidance. As a group, stutterers were slower, made more mirror-reversed letters, and formed letters of poorer quality than fluent speakers. The effects were the same for males and females, and the data for left- and right-handers were mirror-symmetric with respect to left and right hands. Evidence was found for two subgroups of stutterers with respect to scores on the dependent variables. It was suggested that the overall pattern of results implicates the supplementary motor area in the mediation of stuttering, possibly through relatively ungated callosal pathways.     

ASSESSMENT OF SMOKING BEHAVIOR

The nature of smoking risk is first reviewed and a classification of procedures for assessing smoking behavior is presented. Areas requiring assessment include not only the traditionally measured smoking rate, but also the substance used and topography of consumption. Each of these areas may be assessed through a variety of self-report, observational, or indirect techniques. These techniques as well as some of their advantages and disadvantages are presented. Recently published (1975 to mid-1978) data-based smoking research appearing in four journals (Addictive Behaviors, Behavior Therapy, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology) is then reviewed with respect to measurement reliability and the use of multiple measures. Results show a strong tendency to assess only the risk area of smoking rate and a low frequency of appropriate measurement reliability checks, especially during baseline and treatment phases. Some of the implications of these results are discussed.     

Correlates of a Taoist orientation

Using rating scales no associations were found between having a Taoist orientation to life, death anxiety, and the perception that one's self is unified (versus fragmented) in a sample of southeastern Asian students (18 women and 12 men).     

Changes in straight-ahead eye position during adaptation to wedge prisms

If S is instructed to look straight ahead before adapting to laterally displaced vision, he does so without noticeable error. After adapting, however, in response to the same instruction, he may rotate his eyes as much as 8° toward the the displaced visual target. This is the change in judgment of the direction of gaze which Helmholtz identified in 1867 as an important physiological mechanism in adaptation to prisms. It leads to more accurate reaching behavior by causing S to make a visual judgment that the target is closer to straight ahead than it was when he first looked through the prisms. This type of adaptive change (change in judgment of the direction of gaze, oculomotor change) can be measured either by manual judgments (difference between successive “straight ahead” and “visual target” judgments) or by changes in straight-ahead eye position. It may be described as a parametric adjustment in the oculomotor control system, and is closely analogous to the eye movement which subserves the recovery of binocular fusion in prism vergence.     

Negative affectivity and the reporting of stressful life events

Maddi, Bartone, and Puccetti (1987) and Schroeder and Costa (1984) reported inconsistent findings regarding the impact of negative affectivity (NA; i.e., neuroticism) contaminated life event items on observed life event-illness relationships. Here, unlike the previous studied, such contaminated items were nonjudgmentally identified. Among a sample of managers and professionals, it was found that NA-contaminated items correlated significantly with three measures of well-being (depression, life satisfaction, and physical symptoms) and that uncontaminated items were unassociated with the well-being indicators. Moreover, in two of three cases, the correlations between contaminated items and the well-being measures were significantly different from the correlations between uncontaminated items and the well-being indicators. Therefore, we concluded that prior life event-well-being findings are inflated considerably by the use of NA-contaminated events. Suggestions for future life events research that incorporate the NA construct are detailed.     

Bimanual handedness in adults who stutter

25 adult stutterers and 29 nonstutterers who were right-handed as defined by a positive Laterality Quotient on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory were compared with respect to their pattern of hand use in performing seven common tasks that involve bimanual cooperation. Among the stutterers was a higher proportion of participants who showed anomalies in how they carried out the two tasks that required synchronous manipulation by the two hands. On two other tasks that required speeded performance, the groups were similar in dealing playing cards with the right or left hands, but the stutterers were slower than nonstutterers and did not show a right-hand advantage on a task requiring removal of a nut from a bolt. The results were interpreted as indicating difficulty by stutterers in carrying out synchronously different response elements of motoric tasks.     

Understanding the power of the picture: the effect of image content on emotional and political responses to terrorism

Viewing images of terrorism can have a powerful impact on individuals' emotional and political responses, yet little is known about the psychological processes underlying these effects. We hypothesized that the content of terrorism images will shape viewers' appraisals of the event, which will elicit specific emotions and political attitudes. British citizens viewed photographs of the 2005 London bombings, either focusing on victims or terrorists. Exposure to images of victims increased appraisals of victim suffering, which predicted feelings of sympathy. Exposure to images of terrorists increased appraisals of terrorists as dangerous, which predicted fear; and of the attack as unjust, which predicted anger. Each emotion predicted support for a distinct counterterrorism policy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.