Is there an alternative cerebral network associated with enhanced phonological processing in deaf speech-users? An exceptional case

Most people born deaf and exposed to oral language show scant evidence of sensitivity to the phonology of speech when processing written language. In this respect they differ from hearing people. However, occasionally, a prelingually deaf person can achieve good processing of written language in terms of phonological sensitivity and awareness, and in this respect appears exceptional. We report the pattern of event-related fMRI activation in such a deaf reader while performing a rhyme-judgment on written words with similar spelling endings that do not provide rhyme clues. The left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis and the left inferior parietal lobe showed greater activation for this task than for a letter-string identity matching task. This participant was special in this regard, showing significantly greater activation in these regions than a group of hearing participants with a similar level of phonological and reading skill. In addition, SR showed activation in the left mid-fusiform gyrus; a region which did not show task-specific activation in the other respondents. The pattern of activation in this exceptional deaf reader was also unique compared with three deaf readers who showed limited phonological processing. We discuss the possibility that this pattern of activation may be critical in relation to phonological decoding of the written word in good deaf readers whose phonological reading skills are indistinguishable from those of hearing readers.     

The logic of how-questions

Philosophers and scientists are concerned with the why and the how of things. Questions like the following are so much grist for the philosopher’s and scientist’s mill: How can we be free and yet live in a deterministic universe?, How do neural processes give rise to conscious experience?, Why does conscious experience accompany certain physiological events at all?, How is a three-dimensional perception of depth generated by a pair of two-dimensional retinal images?. Since Belnap and Steel’s pioneering work on the logic of questions, Van Fraassen has managed to apply their approach in constructing an account of the logic of why-questions. Comparatively little, by contrast, has been written on the logic of how-questions despite the apparent centrality of questions such as How is it possible for us to be both free and determined? to philosophical enterprise.¹ In what follows I develop a logic for how-questions of various sorts including how-questions of cognitive resolution, how-questions of manner, how-questions of method, of means, and of mechanism.     

Understanding the influence of literacy on consumer memory: The role of pictorial elements

This research examines the relationship between literacy and consumer memory. The effects of a variety of stimuli at exposure (i.e., brand names, brand signatures, and products in usage) on memory (i.e., recognition, stem-completion tasks) were examined for a range of literacy. In a series of experiments, we find that the use of pictorial representations of brands (i.e., brand signatures) results in superior brand memory for individuals with lower literacy levels when compared to those at higher literacy levels. This effect is shown to occur not due to pictorial elements per se, but due to pictorial elements with a 1-to-1 correspondence with reality, i.e., which match the form in which they were originally encoded in memory. Moreover, this effect does not persist with stimulus-rich pictures of brands in usage, pointing to boundary conditions with the use of pictorial information.     

What is the function of nail biting: an analog assessment study

OBJECTIVE: To compare the frequency of nail biting in 4 settings (interventions) designed to elicit the functions of nail biting and to compare the results with a self-report questionnaire about the functions of nail biting. DESIGN: Randomised allocation of participants to order of conditions. SETTING: University Psychology Department. SUBJECTS: Forty undergraduates who reported biting their nails. INTERVENTIONS: Left alone (boredom), solving maths problems (frustration), reprimanded for nail biting (contingent attention), continuous conversation (noncontingent attention). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of times the undergraduates bit their nails. RESULTS: Nail biting occurred most often in two conditions, boredom and frustration. CONCLUSION: Nail biting in young adults occurs as a result of boredom or working on difficult problems, which may reflect a particular emotional state. It occurs least often when people are engaged in social interaction or when they are reprimanded for the behavior.     

Design explanation: determining the constraints on what can be alive

This paper is concerned with reasonings that purport to explain why certain organisms have certain traits by showing that their actual design is better than contrasting designs. Biologists call such reasonings ‘functional explanations’. To avoid confusion with other uses of that phrase, I call them ‘design explanations’. This paper discusses the structure of design explanations and how they contribute to scientific understanding. Design explanations are contrastive and often compare real organisms to hypothetical organisms that cannot possibly exist. They are not causal but appeal to functional dependencies between an organism’s different traits. These explanations point out that because an organism has certain traits (e.g., it lives on land), it cannot be alive if the trait to be explained (e.g., having lungs) were replaced by a specified alternative (e.g., having gills). They can be understood from a mechanistic point of view as revealing the constraints on what mechanisms can be alive.

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction: Does Psychosocial Distress Play a Role?

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by pancreatobiliary-type of pain in the absence of organic abnormalities. The aim of this study was to investigate specific psychosocial predictors of functional outcome in a group of patients consecutively referred to a gastroenterological department for biliary-type of pain. Based on medical examination patients were divided into functional (SOD) and organic groups. Self-administered questionnaires regarding demographic characteristics, psychological distress (Symptom Check-List-90–R, [SCL-90-R]), severity of acute and chronic stress, level of subjective well-being and satisfaction with health were completed. The analyses were based on the logistic regression approach. In this sample, SOD patients were older than organic patients and more likely female. Logistic regression analysis showed that higher acute stress (i.e., main effect) was associated with a decreased likelihood of functional (SOD) outcome, whereas the combination of acute stress with chronic stress and the combination of acute stress with higher severity of psychopathology (i.e., interaction effect) was associated with an increased likelihood of functional (SOD) outcome. These findings suggest stressful life events in combination with certain psychological symptoms can play a role in the symptom presentation of patients with sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.     

The structure of workplace adaptive skill in a career inexperienced group

Adaptive skill is a central concept to understanding vocational behavior. In this study, a theory of behavioral functionality is proposed that describes the underlying structure of workplace adaptive skill. The propositions of the theory are formalized in a facet theory mapping sentence, then 12 adaptive skills are assessed on a group of career inexperienced individuals using a structured interview methodology. Smallest space analysis applied to the interview ratings reveals a three-dimensional structure of behavioral functionality. After refinements are made to the theoretical framework, we explore the implications of our findings for understanding the development of adaptive skills in the workplace and for contributing knowledge to the field of vocational behavior.     

The levels of perceptual processing and the neural correlates of increasing subjective visibility

According to the levels-of-processing hypothesis, transitions from unconscious to conscious perception may depend on stimulus processing level, with more gradual changes for low-level stimuli and more dichotomous changes for high-level stimuli. In an event-related fMRI study we explored this hypothesis using a visual backward masking procedure. Task requirements manipulated level of processing. Participants reported the magnitude of the target digit in the high-level task, its color in the low-level task, and rated subjective visibility of stimuli using the Perceptual Awareness Scale. Intermediate stimulus visibility was reported more frequently in the low-level task, confirming prior behavioral results. Visible targets recruited insulo-fronto-parietal regions in both tasks. Task effects were observed in visual areas, with higher activity in the low-level task across all visibility levels. Thus, the influence of level of processing on conscious perception may be mediated by attentional modulation of activity in regions representing features of consciously experienced stimuli.