Regional blood flow changes in the left cerebral hemisphere during word pair learning and recall

Regional cerebral blood flow measurements were made in the left hemisphere of 11 young healthy volunteers during learning and during recalling of word pair associates. Compared to the resting baseline, both tasks caused significant increases of average hemispheric flow, indicating an elevated neuronal activity level. Regionally both tasks were accompanied by considerable activation of parietal and occipital regions. The main difference between learning and recalling was that only the former task activated the prefrontal regions.     

Age and type of crossed aphasia in dextrals due to stroke

Thirty-nine cases (37 from the literature and 2 personal) of crossed aphasia in dextrals due to stroke were reviewed concerning age, sex, and type of aphasia. Results showed that Broca's aphasics are younger than the remaining group, males predominate, and several types of aphasia have been described similarly to the aphasias due to left-hemisphere lesions in dextrals.     

Incomplete Kluver-Bucy syndrome and fluent aphasia

A case of probable herpetic viral encephalitis is presented. The clinical picture following the acute phase of disease was dominated by severe fluent aphasia, prominent oral tendencies, visual agnosia, and a decrease in fear reactions. Most of these symptoms, with the obvious exception of aphasia, are similar to those observed by Kluver and Bucy in rhesus monkeys that underwent bitemporal lobectomy. These manifestations may be explained by the tendency of the herpes simplex virus to invade the temporal lobes. "Agnosia" in the auditory field and changes in vocal behavior were observed by H. Kluver and P. C. Bucy (1939, Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 42, 949-1000) in some of their bitemporal monkeys. The association of sensory aphasia, as observed in this case, with the auditory "agnosia" observed in some bitemporal monkeys, is discussed.     

Hemispheric lateralization in 47,XXY Klinefelter's syndrome boys

Thirty-two boys with a 47,XXY karyotype were compared with chromosomally normal male controls in their performance on six tasks of hemispheric specialization. The results revealed that the 47,XXY subjects had smaller asymmetries on left hemisphere tasks and larger asymmetries on right hemisphere tasks than controls. Analyses of individual right and left side scores revealed that the atypical lateral asymmetries of the 47,XXYs were due to a shift toward greater right hemisphere involvement on four of the six measures. It was postulated that the slower fetal growth rates of the extra X chromosome group might contribute to their atypical hemispheric specialization and the failure of their left hemisphere to gain dominance over their right in language processing.     

Blood pressure and personality

Three groups of 18-yr-old male Ss were selected from a representative Swedish population according to strict blood-pressure criteria: hypertensives (systotic blood pressure above 146 and diastolic above 90), on two occasions, normotensives (systolic blood pressure between 124 and 131, population mean = 128) and hypotensives (systolic blood pressure between 100 and 106). As a part of a broad multidisciplinary study, personality inventory scales and unpleasantness ratings for various types of situations were administered. The findings for the hypertensives indicated lower assertiveness and higher anxiety-proneness, whereas the hypotensives, compared to normotensives, showed a more impulsive, acting-out personality pattern. The hypertensive group was subdivided according to digital vasoconstriction criteria. The non-vasoconstricted subgroup showed a more impulsive and ‘anger-out’ personality pattern, whereas the pattern obtained in the vasoconstricted subgroup was more similar to the classical hypertensive personality, characterized by anxiety and unexpressed anger.     

A correlational study of stutterers' adaptation and voice initiation times

The purpose of this study was to determine the strength of the relationship, if any, between stutterers' amount of improvement in controlling phonation (voice initiation time) and their amount of improvement in stuttering during adaptation.Thirteen adult stutterers were required to participate in an adaptation task and a voice initiation time (VIT) task. The major finding was a weak, positive correlation between subjects' adaptation and their VIT difference scores. The correlation obtained, though weak, was interpreted to be informative; namely that while there is quite probably a laryngeal component in stuttering, it does not stand alone. It seems likely that the complexities of stuttering will not be fully understood until experiments include a number of potential or known dimensions of the disorder.     

Cue exposure and response prevention with alcoholics: a controlled trial

Ten severely alcohol-dependent subjects were divided into two groups, one of which received only 6 sessions of in-vivo cue exposure and response prevention and the other of which received 6 sessions of imaginal cue exposure, followed by 6 sessions of in-vivo cue exposure and response prevention. The in-vivo cue exposure produced significant decrements on behavioural and subjective measures for both experimental groups on Desire to Drink and Difficulty to Resist Alcohol. Imaginal cue exposure produced trivial changes on these measures. The implications for both theory and practice are discussed.     

Speech abnormalities in seizures: a comparison of absence and partial complex seizures

In order to determine whether speech changes are useful in differentiating seizure types, a study was done in which speech abnormalities during two distinct seizure types, partial complex and absence seizures, were compared. Speech changes noted during prolonged electroencephalographic and video monitoring were compared in 16 patients with 47 partial complex seizures and 19 patients with 95 absence seizures. Speech changes were common during both seizure types. Although some significant differences in speech patterns were noted in the two seizure types, the degree of overlap was such to preclude using speech changes alone as the sole clinical criteria in differentiating the seizures.