Soft tissue anatomy of the tongue and floor of the mouth: An ultrasound demonstration

Ultrasound technology has not been used extensively in the study of normal and abnormal oral physiology and speech. Features such as soft tissue detail, real-time motion display, and subject safety make ultrasound ideal for imaging the tongue and the floor of the mouth. This study demonstrates visualization of the muscles of the tongue and floor of the mouth for a normal subject using ultrasound imaging. By employing submandibular transducer placement of real-time sector scanners, tongue anatomy and motion were continuously visualized in sagittal or coronal planes. In addition to the entire tongue surface, much of the intrinsic anatomy was identified including: the genioglossus, geniohyoid, mylohyoid, and digastric muscles; fascial boundaries such as the median fibrous septum, floor intermuscular septum, and paramedian septums; and the hyoid bone. A tongue excised from a human cadaver was scanned using ultrasound and dissected to confirm the anatomy seen in the live tongue. Tongue surface shape and configuration of the intrinsic tissue structures were observed and compared for the phonemes /k/, /u/, and /i/. Anatomical landmarks in the resting and speaking tongue are discussed as well as applications in the fields of speech science and speech pathology.     

The effect of context during word perception in schizophrenic patients

Hospitalized chronic and acute schizophrenics were compared with age- and social-status-matched controls on word perception tests to measure the effect of context on recognition thresholds. In Experiment 1 the method of J. Morton (1964, British Journal of Psychology, 55, 165-180) was adopted to see how related and unrelated contexts influenced word recognition thresholds when both context and stimulus word were presented visually. Experiment 2 was an auditory analog of Experiment 1 and in addition the chronic schizophrenics were selected on the basis of a presence or absence of auditory hallucinations. The influence of context on perceptual thresholds was quite normal in all schizophrenics. However, analysis of the incorrect responses elicited showed that some schizophrenic subjects do produce bizarre or irrelevant responses or perseveration to a greater extent than their controls. These results are explained in terms of automatic and strategic modes of information processing. The automatic processes responsible for the adjustment of perceptual thresholds operate normally in schizophrenics but response production which demands strategic selection and editing of responses is prone to malfunction which results in the observed deviations in the normal use of language.     

Syntactic component in language responsible cognitive structure: Neurological evidence

From the results of a broad ranging comprehension test, a hierarchy of difficulty emerged that is shared by the two groups of aphasics (Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics) and by the control group of normal subjects. The parallelism has been interpreted as a confirmation of the hypothesis that syntactic competence is not inaccessible either in Wernicke's or in Broca's aphasia. The Minimal Distance Principle, as a relevant recognition principle, has been studied, and although not confirmed by the scores has been brought to the fore both by the correlations between the variables under study and by the correlations with the concomitant variables of age and level of education.     

Central auditory processing : IV. Ear dominance—Spatial and temporal complexity

Ear dominance for dichotically presented tones was measured in 63 right-handed subjects when the frequency difference (Δf) was small compared to the center frequency (f_c) and again when it was large. Although two-thirds of the population exhibited a left-ear dominance in both conditions, a shift toward right-ear dominance occurred when the Δf was increased. An additional study, employing the alternating tone illusion described by Deutsch, revealed the same general effect, i.e., a shift toward right-ear dominance with increasing values of Δf/f_c. The results of these experiments, coupled with a review of previously published data of other dichotic experiments, indicate that as the ratio of Δf/f_c increases, the subjective complexity of the sound image increases, and there is a progressive emergence of a “right-ear advantage” (or ear dominance). A tentative explanation relates these results to the effects of anatomical asymmetries of primary and auditory association cortex and the efferent temporal lobe enhancement mechanism described by R. Efron, P. H. Crandall, B. Koss, P. L. Divenyi, and E. W. Yund (Brain and Language, 1983, 19, 254–263.     

Central auditory processing: I. Ear dominance—A perceptual or an attentional asymmetry?

The phenomenon of ear dominance for pitch described by Efron and Yund has been attributed by them to an asymmetry of sensory origin in the binaural integration of dichotic tone pairs. An explanation of this phenomenon in terms of an attentional bias is rejected on the basis of two experiments where the possibility of such bias was excluded. These and other experiments indicate that a simple explanation of this ear dominance in terms of a hemispheric specialization in the processing of tonal stimuli also must be rejected.     

Stuttering onset after laryngectomy

Two cases of onset of stuttering subsequent to laryngectomy are reported. These patients demonstrate that the existence of a larynx is not necessary for the generation of stuttering. The findings support the hypothesis that neuromotor control of sound source (laryngeal or alaryngeal) plays a critical role in the generation of stuttering-type dysfluencies and, perhaps, even in the onset of stuttering. They also suggest that dramatic alteration in sound source has the potential for dramatically altering fluency.     

Carbon monoxide levels and rates of consumption after changing to low tar and nicotine cigarettes

Studies which have examined low tar and nicotine (LT/LN) cigarette smoking have failed, for the most part, to assess adequately the long-term effects of these cigarettes. Most studies have been short-term laboratory investigations of nicotine regulation. More practical strategies for changing to LT/LN cigarettes have largely been ignored. The present study examined long-term changes in smoking patterns following the gradual introduction of LT/LN cigarette smoking. Predicted increases in reported rates of consumption as well as carbon monoxide (CO) levels were not found for most smokers following changes to LT/LN cigarettes. Generally, smokers showed decreased rates of consumption, and a majority had lower CO levels at the end of treatment and during follow-up. Thus, LT/LN cigarette smoking would appear to be an alternative treatment goal for risk reduction in individuals who cannot stop smoking.     

‘Random’ saccadic eye movements during verbal-linguistic and visual-imaginal tasks

Previous research has suggested that questions eliciting visual imagery are associated with lower rates of saccadic eye movements as compared to questions eliciting verbal processes. Two experiments reported here examined the roles of external visual stimulation and speech output in this effect. In both experiments, questions designed to elicit verbal-linguistic or visual-imaginal processing, and which required either syntactically complex or simple responses, were administered while eye movements were recorded by electrooculography. In experiment 1, 42 subjects responded while viewing either the interviewer's face or a gray oval on a video monitor. Imaginal questions elicited a lower rate of eye movements than did verbal questions regardless of the display on the monitor. In experiment 2, 17 subjects responded in conditions of light and darkness. Imaginal questions elicited lower rates of eye movements in both light and dark. Neither cognitive mode nor speech output requirements interacted with stimulus conditions in either experiment. The failure of visual conditions to influence the verbal-imaginal difference in eye movement rate is viewed as inconsistent with a visual interference interpretation of the relationship of eye movements to cognitive activity. Alternate interpretations are discussed.     

Knowledge of the world of work: A test of occupational information for young men

The study evaluates a test of occupational information administered to a national sample of 5000 young men, aged 14–24 in 1966, as part of the National Longitudinal Surveys of employment behavior. The predictive validity of the test score is assessed by reference to multiple regression analyses which confirm the significance of the score as an independent predictor of subsequent hourly earnings and occupational status. Correlation and factor analyses are used to examine the quality of the measurement instrument. All in all, the instrument is judged to exhibit desirable characteristics in terms of internal consistency reliability, discriminatory power, and level of difficulty. The test's reliability compares favorably with a commercially produced test designed to be used in counseling as a measure of occupational knowledge. With the possible modification of deleting a section relating to knowledge of earnings differentials, the test is commended to those involved in assessing and counseling the occupational choice process.     

Predictive value and psychological meaning of vocational aspirations

The psychological meaning and predictive value of a person's vocational aspirations were examined by applying Holland's typology to the vocational aspirations of high school juniors (N = 1005), college juniors (N = 692), employed adults (N = 140), and a second sample of college students studied over a one-year interval (N = 624). The aspirational data were obtained from the Daydreams section of the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1972). Categorical and correlational analyses show that a person's retrospective vocational aspirations have coherence and yield efficient predictions of subsequently expressed choice. In addition, the degree of coherence or similarity among a person's vocational aspirations provides a potentially useful index of a person's decision-making ability.