Cerebral asymmetry in infants.

This paper examines the intercorrelation matrix of the subtests of the Porch Index of Communication Ability using a variety of factor analytic and rotational procedures. In addition to a general factor reflecting overall language dysfunction, verbal, graphic, and gestural factors were also found which accounted for 83% of the total variance. These factors were related to Schuell's Howes', and Wepman's models of aphasia. The impact of factor analytic methodology on the conclusions drawn from the same data was also examined and suggestions for clinical use of this battery were discussed.     

Empirically derived groups in the assessment of recovery from aphasia.

This paper examines the pretreatment intercorrelation matrix of the subtests of the Porch Index of Communication Ability to derive factors reflecting components of language impairment. In addition to a general factor reflecting overall language dysfunction, five specific factors reflecting verbal competency (fluency), graphic-verbal expression, gestural-verbal expression, gestural-nonverbal comprehension, and graphic-geometric comprehension were found which accounted for 90.6% of the total variance. A cluster analysis of the five pretreatment factor scores yielded six groups which accounted for 79% of the variance for these factors. These groups were differentiated primarily in terms of impairment and showed a high rate of accuracy prediction for group membership (97.5%). These groups were extremely stable, as shown by the 75% accurate prediction rate derived from the post-treatment factor scores. The effectiveness of this model in generating homogeneous and highly discriminable groups based on objective measures of the patient's language functions indicates that classification of patients into empirical groups should be a major concern of any research design. Implications for assessing effectiveness of therapeutic intervention and the design of test battery were also discussed.     

The effects of delay and interference: A speed-accuracy study

This paper examines the effect of (1) delay between learning and test and (2) associative interference on memory retrieval speed. The speed-accuracy tradeoff methodology, which interrupts the retrieval process at various times (0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 sec) after presentation of the test item, provides a means of separating retrieval speed effects from effects on overall memory strength. Performance at short processing times is an index of retrieval speed. Performance given ample processing time is a measure of asymptotic accuracy, or memory strength. Increasing the delay between learning and test or introduction of interference relations lowered memory trace strength, as reflected in asymptotic accuracy. Items tested shortly (about 3 sec) after learning showed a significant speedup in retrieval relative to items tested at a longer (several minute) delay. Further analysis suggested that the delay effect on retrieval was primarily the result of immediate repetition, or testing of the last-learned item. The interference manipulation showed a slight and nonsignificant tendency toward slowing of memory retrieval. The implications of these results for various models of retrieval are explored via simulations. The results of all the simulations suggested a direct-access retrieval process where associations are processed largely in parallel. Contradiction or mismatch information in recognizing new items was important because it provided an explanation for a slight slowing in retrieval due to interference even with a parallel-processing assumption. Faster retrieval for the last-learned item may be the result of residual activation following active processing.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in human infants: Spectral analysis of flash and click evoked potentials

Evoked potentials of 16 human infants (mean age = 5.0 weeks, SD = 1.8 weeks) were recorded from the left and right, occipital and temporal areas. Spectral analysis showed a high amplitude, localized, coherent center of activity within the left temporal area for click stimuli, and a high amplitude, localized center of activity in the right occipital area for flash stimuli. It was proposed that the structured auditory information of the click and the unstructured visual information of the flash represented different degrees of familiarity to the subjects. With this hypothesis, left hemisphere involvement in stimulus processing would increase as the stimulus became more referrable to previous long- or short-term experience. Conversely, right hemisphere involvement would increase with unfamiliar stimuli which could not be readily associated with earlier data.     

Simultaneous and successive syntheses and intelligence

Recent studies on information processing have developed an alternative model of mental abilities which constitutes an integration of Russian clinical research and North American factor analytic research. This model proposes that information may be processed in a simultaneous synthesis or a successive synthesis. The present study examines variations in these syntheses in three intelligence groups in order to identify the types of information processing characteristic of different intelligence groups. A stratified sampling of verbal and nonverbal IQ was used to select 60 boys of age 9–10 in each of three verbal IQ ranges: 71–90, 91–110, and 111–130. A battery of tests used in previous research was administered to all subjects. Multivariate analyses of variance and discriminant analyses indicated that the IQ groups differed markedly on tests used to identify simultaneous synthesis, most notably Raven's Progressive Matrices, and differed slightly less on tests of successive synthesis. Factor analyses of the test intercorrelations for each group revealed more factorial invariance across the IQ groups than had been suggested by a previous exploratory study. It was concluded that strong individual differences exist in simultaneous and successive syntheses over the major portion of the standardized intelligence range, and no high degree of specialization of information processing was characteristic of an intelligence group.     

Racial Justice for the Windrush Generation in Great Britain

This article argues that the experience of the “Windrush generation,” Black Caribbean post–Second World War migrants to the UK, has been one of constant struggle for racial justice. Living in Britain has been undertaken against the backdrop of a Mission Christianity that has exuded a distinct anti-Blackness in its relationship with Black bodies across four centuries. This particular dynamic of “Christian Britain” has created a framework that has helped to shape the agency of Black bodies, essentially marking them as “less than.” This theo-cultural framework has led to a racialized existence for Black British people of the Windrush generation and their descendants. The Christianity that has emerged from the Black Caribbean experience constantly challenges White British Christianity to express an anti-racist and more inclusive model of liberative praxis. This paper is written against the backdrop of the Brexit furore in Britain and the xenophobia and rise in racist attacks that have underpinned the rise in White British nationalism.