Regional cerebral blood flow response during rest and memory activation in a patient with global amnesia

A college professor with a classical amnesic syndrome is described. He has a WAIS IQ of 130, but dramatic memory loss for episodes ranging from a few seconds ago all the way back to portions of his childhood. The amnesia was of sudden onset, 2 years prior to the current memory tests and regional cerebral blood flow measurements. The etiology is believed, though not conclusively proven, to be medial thalamic infarction. rCBF measurements were taken on six separate occasions, four resting baseline, one memory activation, using the previous procedure of Wood, Taylor, et al., and one carbon dioxide activation. The resting baseline showed extremely low flows throughout the cortex, with some hyperfrontal response on the first baseline. With CO₂ activation, however, there was brisk, uniform reactivity, with all sites showing increased flow. This suggested that there were no prominent areas of impaired vasomotor control or probable ischemic damage in the cortical surface. During memory activation, there was also a generalized increase in flow, especially in the frontal areas. This was in sharp contrast to the pattern for normals, described by Wood, Taylor, et al., which shows a slight overall decrease in flow from baseline to memory activation. The results are interpreted in light of Talland's proposal that the amnesic syndrome reflects an arousal failure, with premature closure and shutdown of memory processing, especially at retrieval. Here the arousal failure is interpreted as an inadequate restriction or focusing of cortical activation, with resulting pathologically diffuse flow increases.     

Comparing two perceived characteristics of autobiographical memory: Memory detail and accessibility

Four samples of participants recalled autobiographical memories. While some evidence emerged from regression analyses suggesting that judgements of the amount of detail contained in each memory and judgements of the ease with which events could be recalled were partially independent, the analyses generally showed that these judgements were similarly predicted by various event characteristics (age, typicality, self-importance, emotional intensity at event occurrence, rehearsal types). Co-occurrence frequency data yielded similar conclusions, showing that while ease ratings and detail ratings occasionally diverged, they were more often consistent with each other. Finally, the data also suggested that events that prompted emotional ambivalence were not judged to be more easily recalled, or to contain more detail, than non-ambivalent events.     

The negativity bias is eliminated in older adults: age-related reduction in event-related brain potentials associated with evaluative categorization

Studies of younger adults have found that negative information has a stronger influence than positive information across a wide range of domains. T. A. Ito, J. T. Larsen, N. K. Smith, and J. T. Cacioppo (1998) reported that during evaluative categorization, extreme negative images produced greater brain activity than did equally extreme positive images in younger adults. Older adults have been reported to optimize affect and attend less to negative information. In this article, the negativity bias was examined in 20 older versus 20 younger adults during evaluative categorization, with a focus on brain activity occurring roughly 500 ms after presentation of visual stimuli. Results demonstrated a significant decrease in brain activity to both positive and negative stimuli (p < .05) and an elimination of the negativity bias in older adults.     

Transgenic mice expressing a truncated form of CREB-binding protein (CBP) exhibit deficits in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory storage

Deletions, translocations, or point mutations in the CREB-binding protein (CBP) gene have been associated with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome; a human developmental disorder characterized by retarded growth and reduced mental function. To examine the role of CBP in memory, transgenic mice were generated in which the CaMKII alpha promoter drives expression of an inhibitory truncated CBP protein in forebrain neurons. Examination of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity thought to underlie memory storage, revealed significantly reduced late-phase LTP induced by dopamine-regulated potentiation in hippocampal slices from CBP transgenic mice. However, four-train induced late-phase LTP is normal. Behaviorally, CBP transgenic mice exhibited memory deficits in spatial learning in the Morris water maze and deficits in long-term memory for contextual fear conditioning, two hippocampus-dependent tasks. Together, these results demonstrate that CBP is involved in specific forms of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation.     

Use of the Conners-wells adolescent self-report scale (short form) with children

The short form of the Conners-Wells Adolescent Self-Report Scale (CASS:Short) is administered to 319 children and 844 adolescents to investigate whether the instrument can be used with respondents under the age of 12. Mothers of all respondents are asked to rate each child using a measure designed to assess a parallel set of problem behaviors. The factor structure of the CASS:Short is tested in both samples and is found to have good fit to the data. Mean levels of ADHD symptomatology are also examined for possible sex and age effects, as was the relationship between parent and self-report ratings. The overall results provide empirical support for the use of the CASS:Short with children ages 7 to 11.     

THE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM FOR THE RORSCHACH:

The Comprehensive System (Exner, 1993) is widely accepted as a reliable and valid approach to Rorschach interpretation However, the present article calls attention to significant problems with the system First, contrary to common opinion, the interrater reliability of most scores in the system has never been demonstrated adequately Second, important scores and indices in the system are of questionable validity Third, the research base of the system consists mainly of unpublished studies that are often unavailable for examination Recommendations are made regarding research and clinical use of the Comprehensive System     

Male Gender Role Conflict,Depression, and Help Seeking: Do College Men Face Double Jeopardy?

To investigate the previously untested hypothesis that college men with higher levels of male gender role conflict (MGRC) experience both increased risk of depression and more negative attitudes toward seeking counseling services, this study used latent variable modeling to examine these relations. Two components of MGRC were identified: restriction-related MGRC, which predicted 25% of the variance in help-seeking attitudes, and achievement-relatedMGRC, which predicted 21% of the variance in depression. It is suggested that outreach programs designed to increase college men's willingness to use counseling services attempt to counter the option-limiting aspects of male gender roles, whereas counseling with depressed college men incorporate an examination of their perceptions of success and achievement.     

Self-evaluation in the pastorate

Conclusion In the absence of resources, then, for adequately supervised and continuous in-course training for the parish minister, it is suggested that he become his own supervisor for self-evaluation in the pastorate. Certain methods and disciplines have been proposed for such a venture. Nothing herein is intended to offer this kind of self-evaluation as a substitute for other resources, either clinical or devotional, available to aid the minister in appraising his vocational involvements. This proposal is simply set forth as another tried and perhaps more readily accessible way of improving that service to which the parish minister feels himself called.     

Using the family life cycle with later life families

The development of a family clinic for later life families within an Old Age Psychiatry service is briefly described. An extended life cycle model has been found useful in understanding and working with such families and is also described, together with two cases which illustrate the practical application of the model.