Cerebral lateralization, preferred cognitive mode, and reading ability in normal children

In a sample of 105 children (aged 6 to 12), a stylistic preference for a verbal approach to problem-solving correlated positively with reading ability (independently of age) and degree of right-ear advantage in the report of dichotic stop consonant-vowel syllables (but not with verbal intelligence or hand preference). Verbal strategic preference may: (1) foster the acquisition of reading skill, and (2) bias attention toward input from the right by generating differential left-hemisphere activation.     

Korsakoff amnesic syndrome: The result of simultaneous deficits in several independent processes?

Alcoholic Korsakoff patients were presented six verbal list learning tasks (two denotatively and three connotatively organized, and one high-imagery word list). Twelve recall trials and three recognition probes were obtained per list. Results indicate that for Korsakoff patients, (1) recall varied with list organization, (2) recognition memory although poor was further disrupted by proactive inhibition only on denotatively categorized lists, and (3) conceptual deficits disrupted ability to appreciate simple dichotomies in denotatively categorized lists. It is hypothesized that the joint presence of deficts in specific conceptual and semantic processes in necessary although perhaps not sufficient to produce a Korsakoff amnesia.     

Issues to consider in the differential diagnosis of normal childhood nonfluencies and stuttering

Historically more attention has been focused on the adult stutterer than on the young stutterer. This article discusses three key issues in the differential diagnosis of normal childhood nonfluencies and childhood stuttering. The three issues are (1) whether early childhood disfluencies are heterogeneous or homogeneous phenomena, (2) whether the relationship between normal childhood nonfluencies and early stuttering is continuous or dichotomous, and (3) whether normal nonfluencies and stuttering differ quantitatively or qualitatively. Theoretical research as well as clinical implications of these issues are discussed.     

On processing chinese ideographs and english words: some implications from Stroop-Test results.

When Chinese subjects tried to name the color of characters which represented conflicting color words, they showed markedly greater interference than did English speaking readers performing an English version of the same task. This effect cannot be attributed to bilingualism among the Chinese subjects since bilinguals in other languages show smaller Stroop-interference than monolingual controls. Instead, there may be some fundamental differences in the perceptual demands of reading Chinese and English which can have widespread implications for human information processing.     

Effects of directiveness of instructions and surveillance on the production and persistence of children's donations

All subjects earned tokens for correct size judgments and observed a model who had previously earned tokens at the same task donate some of her earnings. Children were subsequently given an opportunity to donate some of their tokens to children at another school. The opportunity to give occurred in presence (surveillance) or absence of the experimenter and after being presented with either directive (you must give) or permissive (you can give if you want to) instructions. Directive instructions and surveillance both produced greater initial giving for all children. In a second session with no modeling, no surveillance, and no further instructions, earlier directive instructions also produced greater persistence of giving for all children. Permissive instructions produced greater reductions in giving over time for boys than for girls. The present findings suggest that directive instructions produce greater initial giving and that donating persists better under these more explicit conditions.     

The other way around: Effects of causal attributions on estimates of consensus,distinctiveness, and consistency

It was hypothesized that the attributed cause of a given person's behavior will affect inferences about its generalizability over persons (consensus), stimuli (distinctiveness), and circumstances (consistency). Moreover, these effects were expected to parallel the effects of consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency information on causal attributions. Experiment 1 provided support for these predictions but also showed that attribution affected consensus judgments less than it affected judgments of distinctiveness and consistency, particularly when consensus was not the first characteristic estimated. Using a different set of stimulus materials and a different manipulation of attribution, Experiments 2 and 3 provided further evidence for the effects of attribution on inferences of consensus information. Experiment 3 indicated that the false consensus effect—actors' tendency to assume that the majority of people share their behavior—may be due to actors' tendency to attribute their behavior to situational factors. Implications of the present studies for biased estimates of consensus and the use of consensus and attribution as mediating variables are discussed.     

Determinants of information-seeking behavior

Two studies examined situational determinants of choice among anagram tests that varied both in difficulty and in diagnosticity (the information they provided about one's own ability). In both studies, subjects worked on a preliminary anagram test before making their choices. Study 1 manipulated level of performance on the preliminary test. Results showed that high performance led to preferring more difficult and more diagnostic tests. In Study 2, subjects were either paid or not paid for their performance on the preliminary test. Results showed that pay led to a preference for more diagnostic tests. Unexpectedly, results of both studies showed that although difficulty and diagnosticity were defined independently of one another, they were not perceived as such. Thus, high diagnostic tests were perceived as more difficult; more difficult tests were perceived as more diagnostic; and the difference between high and low diagnostic tests in perceived diagnosticity and choice of items (high diagnostic tests had higher scores on both measures) were more pronounced among more difficult tests. Motivational as well as cognitive interpretations of the results were discussed.     

Cerebral lateralization of deaf and hearing individuals for linguistic comparison judgments.

A group of congenitally deaf adults and a group of hearing adults, both fluent in sign language, were tested to determine cerebral lateralization. In the most revealing task, subjects were given a series of trials in which they were fist presented with a videotaped sign and then with a word exposed tachistoscopically to the right visual field or left visual field, and were required to judge whether the word corresponded to the sign or not. The results suggested that the comparison processes involved in the decision were performed more efficiently by the left hemisphere for hearing subjects and by the right hemisphere for deaf subjects. However, the deaf subjects performed as well as the hearing subjects in the left hemisphere, suggesting that the deaf are not impeded by their auditory-speech handicap from developing the left hemisphere for at least some types of linguistic processing.     

On the evidence for linguistic abilities in signing apes.

F. Patterson (Brain and Language, 5, 56–71) described signing behavior by a gorilla, Koko, which she interpreted as evidence for linguistic abilities in apes. We evaluate her claim with respect to her evidence, additional evidence from other ape language studies, and studies of the sign language of the deaf. We conclude that her report does not include the appropriate data or analyses and that her conclusions are unjustified. Ape signing shows little resemblance to either the speech of hearing children or the signing of deaf children. Some nonlinguistic interpretations of this behavior and methodological issues are considered.     

Morphologic asymmetries of the face: A review

It has been suggested that asymmetries in the morphological properties of the face contribute to or produce asymmetries in facial emotional expression. Over 50 years of research on hard tissue, soft tissue, and facial surface asymmetries is reviewed here. Generally, it appears that if consistent asymmetry characterizes facial morphology, it is extremely small in magnitude or characterizes regions yet to be examined. In contrast, marked homology and asymmetry in regional size and area has been noted often. At present, it does not appear that asymmetry in facial morphology is associated with facial expressive asymmetry, with the latter more likely to be an outcome of functional brain asymmetry.