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.     

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.     

An evaluation of the effects of supplemental “fluency” training during maintenance

The voice onset time (VOT) of two groups of treated stutterers and a normal-speaking group was assessed by spectrographic analysis. Both groups of stutterers had significantly slower VOT than the normal speakers. The experimental group of stutterers was given 8 wk of “fluency” training designed to remediate characteristics of speech identified as related to “tenuous” fluency. The control group of stutterers received ongoing maintenance therapy. Posttreatment VOT was assessed. The experimental stuttering group had significantly decreased their VOT in the direction of the normal-speaking group, whereas the control group of stutterers had a greater VOT between pre- and posttreatment. The implication of these results for the maintenance of fluency are discussed.     

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.     

UCS duration and conditioned suppression: Acquisition and extinction between-groups and terminal performance within-subjects

Two experiments demonstrated a positive monotonic relation between UCS duration and conditioned suppression ranging from no suppression at 0.05 sec to nearly complete suppression at 3.0 sec. In Exp 1, 5 acquisition groups were run at 0.5 mA. No suppression occurred at the shortest duration, approximately 50% suppression by Session 3 in two intermediate groups (0.2 and 0.5 sec) and nearly complete suppression by Session 3 at the two longest durations (1.0 and 3.0 sec). The relation between UCS duration and recovery of responding during extinction followed a parallel pattern. In Exp 2, terminal performance was studied within-subjects and the same relation was replicated.     

Patterns of spontaneous recovery in aphasic groups: A study of adult stroke patients

The recovery of 31 aphasic stroke patients in the first three months postonset was investigated. Improvements on eight comprehension, repetition, and expression tasks were documented for four groups. These groups, retrospectively defined on the basis of initial scores on a fluency and a comprehension task, were: Low Fluency/Low Comprehension (LFLC), Low Fluency/High Comprehension (LFHC), High Fluency/Low Comprehension (HFLC), and High Fluency/High Comprehension (HFHC). Examination of each group's recovery revealed (1) equal improvement on nearly all language tasks for the two High Comprehension groups and (2) a more selective improvement largely in comprehension and imitation tasks for the two Low Comprehension groups. Implications of this selective improvement in initially low comprehending aphasics are discussed.