Information Processing During Sleep: the Effect of Olfactory Stimuli on Dream Content and Dream Emotions

Chapter 13: After watching the video in Physio about dreams, I found this article on how smells affect dream content and emotions. Personally, I find dreams fascinating and this research presented a new twist that I had not previously considered.
The first question you may ask is "Why are they using olfactory (smell) stimuli?" Since smells (even rather potent ones) can be "processed in a sleeping brain," the manipulation would not wake the participant, thus allowing them to continue dreaming if need be. Unlike other sensations, smell doesn't stimulate the reticular formation, which causes arousal. They knew that the olfactory sensations connect directly to the amygdala and from there the hippocampus. The amygdala controls emotion, so you can see why they believe smell will have an effect on dream emotion. They hypothesize "olfactory stimuli are processed in higher coritcal areas" than other sense stimuli, therefore interacting with dreams. Another hypothesis is good smells will ellict good dream content and bad smells will ellict bad dream content, because the amygdala processes positive and negative emotions.
The participants were 15 females ranging from age 20-28. They chose females, primarily because research shows females have more acute olfactory functions. All were tested apriori to ascertain whether their olfactory functions were "normal." Their sleep stages were recorded and assessed by an EEG. An olfactometer was used to emit smells, such as rotten eggs or roses. An odorless smell was used as a control.
Participants slept for two night in a row. The first night was used to get comfortable with the surroundings, while the second night the participant was awakened during REM sleep by the researcher. The researcher would then ask what they were dreaming about. The participant was asked to rate their dream emotions on a scale from 0, no emotion, to 3, strong emotion, and a postive or negative was used to denote a good or bad emotion.
A repeated measures ANOVA was performed to analyze the data. Contrasting smells were analyzed via dependent samples t-tests. The results concluded that smell is indeed processed by the sleeping brain and does affect the dream emotion, however, they found no correlation to dream content. They supported the claim that smell is processed in "higher brain levels" and the amygdala is the connecting factor between the smells from olfactory bulbs and positive or negative dream emotions.
This was an interesting study for me, because, as I mentioned earlier, I never assumed smell could affect my dreams. As the study revealed, it doesn't necessarily affect the content of dreams but rather the emotion behind them. So next time you have a bad dream, consider if you threw out any rotten eggs the night before...

Schredl, M., Atanasova, D., Hormann, K., Maurer, J.T., Hummel, T., & Stuck, B.A. (2009). Information processing during sleep: the effect of olfactory stimuli on dream content and dream emotions. European Dream Research Society, 18, 285-290. Retrieved from EbscoHost.
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2009.00737.x

http://ezproxy.utm.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=43669164&site=ehost-live

Positron Emission Tomographic Measure of Brain Dopamine Dependence to Nicotine as a Model of Drugs of Abuse

Chapter 8:
Nicotine enhances the amount of dopamine in the brain, thus making the drug very addictive. The researchers in the present study knew that using nicotine for a long or even short amount of time will increase the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the ventral tegmental area and locus coeruleus in monkeys. In humans, more dopamine is increased by nicotine in the putamen and caudate than in nonsmokers. This study is trying to "support the hypothesis that overnight abstinence after short-term daily nicotine treatment in conscious monkeys reduces striatal DA (dopamine) utilization." Even though the researchers tested on monkeys, the technique applied to the study may also be used on human smokers.
Eight male monkeys were used. They were given L-DOPA for radioactivity. In the acute nicotine study (or short term) and the repeated nicotine study, the monkeys were measured by the positron emission tomography (PET) for 64 minutes. To compare high and low nicotine condtions a paired samples t-test was performed. Researchers were mainly interested in the cerebellum and striatum. After overnight nicotine abstinence, the brain said it was addicted to nicotine. Researchers looked at the white matter and occipital areas of the brain as control levels, becuase L-DOPA was not present there.
After the final analysis, researchers concluded that L-DOPA did help quantify dopamine in dependent smokers. They stated their methods could be used for all abused drugs that emit serotonin or CA (or brain catecholamines).
Through PET scans, the research can be used to locate where the drugs affect the brain. Even in the absence of nicotine, the brain "said" that it was addicted to the substance. This demonstrates how easily the brain is addicted to stubstances due to the presence of these false neurotransmitters (i.e. nicotine).
Domino, E.F, Tsukada, H., Harada, N. (2009). Positron emission tomographic measure of brain dopamine dependence to nicotine as a model of drugs of abuse. Psychopharmocology, 204, 149-153. Accessed by EbscoHost. doi: 10.1007/s00213-008-1445-8

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=24&sid=606e8b8d-4496-45bd-88e1-a5241ac53de8%40sessionmgr11

Stress, habits, and drug addiction: A psychoneuroendocrinological perspective

Schwabe, L, Dickinson, A., & Wolf, O. (2011). Stress, habits, and drug addiction: A psychoneuroendocrinological perspective. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 19(1), 53–63

Chapter 8 in the text provides explanations of the different classes of drugs, and it emphasizes how these different types of drugs influence the brain and behavior. Further, we viewed a video in class and discussed in depth the relationship between drugs and addiction, and the various negative consequences of psychological and physical dependency. While addictive qualities vary from one drug to the next, factors leading to addiction could be similar across the board. Schwabe, Dickinson, and Wolf (2011) suggest that stressors are indirectly linked to not only addiction but also vulnerability to relapse. The researchers propose neurological mechanisms through which voluntary (recreational) drug use leads to involuntary (dependent) drug use. These include two different types of instrumental or learning actions. Drug use begins with an “action-outcome” process of learned associations. Recreational drug users perform the action of using a drug, and the outcome is often pleasurable or what they desired to feel. However, at a certain limit, this voluntary drug use become compulsive and habitual. This second type of learning is deemed “stimulus-response” by the researchers, meaning that the stimulus of a “craving” or “need” for the drug is present, and the response is to use the drug to feel the previous sense of pleasure. The major question arises, though: what causes this switch in learning mechanisms to cause recreational drug use to turn into addiction? Evidence cited by the researchers in this study suggests that stress and stress hormones can play a role in this mechanism switch. The release of stress hormones by a previously-addicted brain could reinstate the habitual type of stimulus-response, and thus cause an individual to become more vulnerable to addiction. The researchers also propose that prolonged exposure to stressors may cause the acceleration from voluntary to involuntary drug use and abuse. This research could prove invaluable to the treatment of drug or alcohol addiction and also be helpful in the prevention of relapse in individuals who have beat their addictions. For instance, an ex-alcoholic may be aware that stress could cause a relapse, so he or she might learn how to avoid stress-provoking situations, and could be taught measures to cope and reduce inevitable life stressors. This was quite an interesting article!

Attentional Capture of Objects Referred to By the Spoken Language

Attentional Capture of Objects Referred to By the Spoken Language- an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 4, pg 1122-1133.

Chapter 9 in our book is titled “How Do We Sense, Perceive, and See the World?” Visual processing is the major function of the occipital lobe and also is carried out in many other parts of the brain. Researchers in the article I read questioned “can task-irrelevant linguistic information influence visual attention?” How much, basically, does hearing a spoken word (whether it is relevant to the task at hand or whether it is not) affect the speed at which one’s eyes respond to a visual stimulus?

Three separate experiments were performed in this study. Participants were 18 students with normal hearing and visual capabilities at the University of Rochester. In each of these three experiments, participants were required to process basic visual properties of objects. In experiments one and two the participants had to respond to a color change. In experiment three, the participants had to respond to the onset of motion in an object. I will now go into a bit of detail on each experiment and discuss what the experiments revealed about attentional capture of objects referred to by spoken language.

In experiment one, participants were told to “make an eye movement in response to the color change, not in response to the word being spoken”. The participants were presented with a visual display that had a central fixation cross with two objects on either side of it. After a short delay, a spoken word was presented that either referred to the target object (target object meaning the object that will light up—this is the congruent condition) or referred to the object that would not light up (distracter object—this is the incongruent condition). The target object would turn green. Based on previous research that showed that before the execution of an eye movement, attention is covertly shifted to the area of interest, researchers expected that if an object referred to by spoken word captures attention, the participants’ visual attention would shift toward that object even if this could not be overtly observed. Therefore, when the spoken word referred to the distracter object, researchers expected a longer latency between moving the eye towards the correct object that lit up. The eyes would need to reorient from shifting toward the incorrect object that was referred to linguistically.

The eye tracking system the researchers used recorded the time in milliseconds the eye took to move to the correct target. Latencies were, as expected, longer when the object the spoken word referred to was not the target object. This was a statistically significant effect (p < .0005). Spoken words do affect visual attention.

The second experiment was mostly identical to the first. However, there were four objects on the screen in this experiment. The spoken word referred to one object on the screen half the time, and an object not on the screen the other half of the time. Latencies were 20 milliseconds slower when the object referred to by spoken word did not exist on the screen, p < .0005.

In the third experiment, there were again two objects present on each display. This time, the spoken word referred to the target object (congruent condition), the distracter object (incongruent condition), or to an object not on the screen (control). Responses were the quickest in the congruent condition (707 milliseconds), intermediate in the control condition (738 milliseconds), and slowest in the incongruent condition (817 milliseconds). Once again, this was a statistically significant effect and the results were in line with results in the first two experiments.

            This research strongly suggests that visual attention is influenced by linguistic processing in the brain.

Effects of tobacco exposure on auditory function in newborns

In chapter 9, we discussed sensation and perception.  This study looks at how tobacco use of pregnant mothers can impair auditory processes in their unborn children.  Tobacco use by mothers during pregnancy has been consistently associated with negative effects in newborns.  Intrauterine tobacco exposure may lead to deficits in motor, sensory, and cognitive function.  New research is now showing that it can also impair the auditory processes.  This research, however, has received little attention.  This article discusses a study that was performed on pregnant women to determine the effects of tobacco use on newborns' auditory function.  The study began with a sample size of 110 pregnant women from a low socioeconomic population.  Researchers gathered information from these women such as self-reported smoking status, how many cigarettes smoked per day, and urine samples.  Of the 110 participants, 78 live-births were identified.  Some pregnancies resulted in spontaneous abortion while others did not return to the hospital for care or were transferred to another facility.  Auditory brain-stem evoked responses (ABRs) were measured in both ears of 62 of the newborns.  ABR waveforms are measures of the neuro-electrical activity produced by the auditory nerve and auditory brainstem in response to sound stimuli.  Researchers also looked at the levels of continine, which is found in both tobacco and nicotine, in the mothers' urine.  Researchers found that the infants of mothers with high continine levels (heavy smokers) responded at a much faster rate during the ABR testing than infants of mothers with low levels of continine (non-smokers).  ABRs that occur too quickly can possibly disrupt auditory processes related to speech perception, as well as negatively affect reading and language development.  Therefore, these findings suggest that smoking during pregnancy can possibly lead to impairment of auditory function in newborns.

References:
PECK, J., NEAS, B., ROBLEDO, C., SAFFER, E., BEEBE, L., & WILD, R. A. (2010). Intrauterine tobacco exposure may alter auditory brainstem responses in newborns. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 89(4), 592-596. doi:10.3109/00016340903511068

Reduced neural habituation in the amygdala and social impairments inautism spectrum disorders

Kleinhans, N. M., PhD., Johnson, L. C., Richards, T., Mahurin, R., Greenson, J., Dawson,G., & Aylward, E. (2009). Reduced neural habituation in the amygdala and social impairments inautism spectrum disorders. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(4), 467-75. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Proquest.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether amygdala dysfunction is distinguished by abnormalities in habituation. The researchers also wanted to examine whether or not the amygdala habituation rate has any relation to social impairment. From previous studies it has been thought to be that an important factor in social impairment in individuals with autism spectrum disorders is amygdala dysfunction. Within this study a MRI was used to measure the variations in amygdale and fusiform gyrus activation to facial stimili that was neutral in adults with the disorder. The group that was being compared had higher amygdala habituation than the group with autism spectrum disorders. However, overall, there were no major differences in fusiform habituation. Also in the autism spectrum group, the results showed that severe social impairment was associated with lower habituation levels of the amygdala. So, this suggests that in autism spectrum disorders there is hyperarousal in the amygdala as a response to stimuli that is socially significant. It is also suggested that amygdala arousal over a certain period of time may play a role in social deficits of people with autism spectrum disorders.

Visual field function in school-aged children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy related to different patterns of brain damage

Jacobson, L., Rydberg, A., Eliasson, A., Kits, A., & Flodmark, O. (2010, August). Visual field function in school-aged children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy related to different patterns of brain damage. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 52(8), 184-187. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Proquest.

This study sought to explore, in children with unilateral cerebral palsy, the relationship between visual field perception and the brain’s structure. Visual field function was determined in this study using 29 children; 15 of them were males and 14 were females. Their ages ranged from 7-14 years. The research used the confrontation technique and the Goldmann perimetry. GMFCS, or Gross Motor Function Classification System, was used to classify unilateral cerebral palsy. Levels 1-3 of the Manual Ability Classification system were also utilized. Cerebral imaging was used to determine the type and severity of the brain lesions of the participants. Eighteen within the study had a visual field function that was below normal. Six of the children had severely restricted visual fields. The lesions were white matter damage, malformation, and cortical lesions. A correlation was found between the pattern of brain damage in the children and their visual field capability. Of the 29 children, 5 of them had a normal field of vision even with the malformations that involving portions of the brain that play a part in the visual system. The results of this study showed that visual field function may be able to be preserved due to the plasticity of the underdeveloped brains of children with white matter damage. With higher numbers of lesions that existed in the brain there was a relation of a higher number of restricted visual fields.

Object size as a determinant of grasping in infancy

Siddiqui, A. (1995, September). Object size as a determinant of grasping in infancy. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 156(3), 345. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from Proquest.

This study sought to explore the time in which infants begin to grasp objects and also how this grasping is carried out. Researchers from a previous study observed infants and found that infants use the forearm and the hand, around the age of 16 months, to reach effectively. When the infant is close to 20 weeks old they began to use a palmer grasp. At 28 weeks, a radial grasp is used by the infant. Then at 40 weeks, the infant begins to use his or her index finger by extending it to an object. After this period, the thumb is utilized due to the changing muscular development in the arms. Recent studies have shown that, early on, infants begin to make adjustments with their hands and timing in position with the target. In this study infants grouped in the categories 5 months, 7 months, and 9 months, with 20 infants per group, were given 5 round objects of different  sizes either horizontally or vertically. The researchers observed the how the infants grasped for objects by monitoring which fingers were used while in the process of grasping. From the results, it was shown that 5 month olds mainly used 4 fingers when gripping the smaller objects. When grasping large objects there was an equal distribution among age groups since they both used all of their fingers from one hand or used both hands. The  results show  that infants of all of the age groups grasped based upon the size of the objects. For smaller objects fewer fingers were used, but for larger objects more fingers were used.  The older infants, however, were better at grasping both large and small objects consistently.

Basal Ganglia Volume and Shape in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

 Qiu, A., Crocetti, D., Adler, M., Mahone, E., Denckla, M., Miller, M., & Mostofsky, S.. (2009). Basal Ganglia Volume and Shape in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(1), 74-82.  Retrieved September 11, 2011, from ProQuest Psychology Journals.

Basal Ganglia Volume and Shape in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
The basal ganglia abnormalities have been associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder especially in boys. This study compared 66 participants which consisted of 35 normal children and 47 children with ADHD and MRIs were used to look abnormalities were looked at in the basal ganglia. The differences in shape of the basal ganglia were looked at comparing the subjects to normal model.Linear regression models were used to calculate the data. The results showed that boys with ADHD had significantly smaller basal ganglia volumes compared to normal developing boys. There were also differences in basal ganglia shapes between the two groups. There were no volume or shape differences in girls with ADHD. The shape compression pattern in the basal ganglia of boys that have ADHD suggests that there are certain deviations associated with ADHD in typical brain developments that involve, multiple frontal – subcortical control loops, circuits with premotor, oculomotor, and prefrontal cortices. Using this research and looking further into basal ganglia structures and other brain structures can be a useful tool in the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Understanding the structural determinants of object confusion in memory: An assessment of psychophysical approaches to estimating visual similarity

Geneviève Desmarais, & Mike J Dixon. (2005). Understanding the structural determinants of object confusion in memory: An assessment of psychophysical approaches to estimating visual similarity. Perception and Psychophysics, 67(6), 980-96.  Retrieved September 11, 2011, from ProQuest Social Science Journals.

    I chose this article because I thought the topic of visual agnosia was very interesting and I wanted to learn more about what people who have this disorder go though. I also wanted to know what kinds of treatments or tests are needed to diagnose visual agnosia.
    Computer generated images that differ in dimensions like thickness , tapering , curvature  have been used to help find deficits in visual agnosia.To determine distance in psychophysical shape space , two different scaling methods were used to develop sets of shapes. An objective method based on visual search, and a subjective method based on judgments of similarity and there was also a third method that did not use scaling. Each method of psychophysical shape space was estimated and then assessed by measuring the confusions within memory among the shapes. The results of this study suggested that although neither of the methods perfectly reflected psychophysical shape space, but subjective scaling was a better estimator of distance in psychophysical space shape than were other approaches. The results also found that the number of confusions produced on each set of shapes was used to develop a new set of shapes that accurately estimated distance in psychophysical shape space. The results suggest that a combination of approaches is desired in order to accurately estimate distance in psychophysical shape space.

Extrapyramidal signs, primitive reflexes and incontinence in fronto-temporal dementia

Extrapyramidal signs, primitive reflexes and incontinence in fronto-temporal dementia

P. Häussermann, et al. "Extrapyramidal signs, primitive reflexes and incontinence in fronto-temporal dementia." European Journal of Neurology 14.8 (2007): 860-864.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

             I chose this article “Extrapyramidal signs, primitive reflexes and incontinence in fronto-temporal dementia” because I thought it would be interesting to see how some reflexes affect dementia.  The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of the prescience of  extra pyramidal signs (EPMS), primitive reflexes, and incontinence in patients with fronto-temporal dementia (FTD). They also aimed to investigate prevalence of EPMS as it correlates with other determining variables. They tested 31 patients that displayed FTD, off their medication, by using a diagnostic evaluation. A neurological exam using the Mini-Mental-State-Exam (MMSE) for cognition, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) for motor function, neuropsychiatric symptoms were evaluated using the Frontal Behavior Inventory (FBI), and the overall severity of the disease was examined using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR).  They used Spearman’s correlation coefficient to analyze the data. They found dementia severity was mild in 24 patients and moderate in 7 patients. The frequency of EPMS was most prevalent in akinesis and parkinsonian gait or posture, but urinary incontinence was only found in about one fourth of the studied patients. They also found an association between UPDRS scores, overall age, and onset age, but no relationship to any other demographic factors. EPMS mainly akinesia, Parkinsonian gait or posture do occur in most patients with moderate to mild stages of FTD, but the likelihood of a tremor reflex is rare. UPDRS scores are not correlated with disease duration or symptoms assessed by the MMSE and the FBI. They did not do follow up assessments which is a limitation to their study. They did find an overlap in Fronto-Temporal Dementia (FTD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), and Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD). This means that some patients of the patients with FTD will be more likely to develop PSP or CBD. They looked more in-depth to the urinary incontinence and how this notion can be cured using medicine. Overall they found prevalence of EPMS support the diagnosis of FTD, more precisely high prevalence of akinesia  in FTD patients. The motor problems were mild in most cases as well as tremors and primitive reflexes symptoms were rare.  

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-1331.2007.01773.x/full

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF PRESCHOOLERS DURING A DEVELOPMENTAL MOVEMENT PROGRAM

Chapter 11 of the book talks about movement and the development of motor skills. The article I chose was about the physical activity patterns in pre-schoolers in a developmental movement program. It is thought that young children lead a very physical lifestyle in their many hours of "playing". This studied took eleven pre-schoolers and had them wear a heart monitor on their wrist during an 8 week movement program based at a university. The researcher got consent from the childrens parents.The children met 2 times  a week for 8 weeks and  with 2 hour sessions each time they met. Undergradaute students were assigned to each of the children and were responsible for implementing lesson plans for the following movements: locomotion, manipulation, stability, large motor, fitness and swimming. The results found that the pre-schoolers spent 18% of the program in high intensity during pretest and 27% in post test. They also found that pre-schoolers maintained a moderate to vigorous physical activity for a period of time, their physical activity remained consant over the 8 weeks of the program, and it was concluded that children can  maintain healthy physical lives that will lead to better cardiorespiratory health.


http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=26&hid=14&sid=f792a245-74a8-45d1-b39d-1289dcc70d50%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=9402082717

Deal, T. (1993). Physical activity patterns of preschoolers during a developmental movement program. Child Study Journal, 23(2), 115. Retrieved from EBSCOhost on September 14, 2011.

Engineering Sensation in Artificial Limbs

Engineering Sensation in Artificial Limbs

Kroeker, Kirk L. "Engineering Sensation in Artificial Limbs." Communications of the ACM54.4 (2011): 16-18. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

            I chose the article “Engineering Sensation in Artificial Limbs”  because after reading in Chapter 9 on sensation I found  it very interesting that it would be possible to have sensation in limbs that are artificial. The researchers in this study were trying to make prosthetic limbs useful for more than just movement; they aimed to find a way for these artificial limbs to provide sensory feedback to their users. This study has been made possible by dramatic advancements in science, electronics, and government funding. The prosthetic leg is more adaptable to this idea of sensory reception where as the hand prosthetic is a more complex matter. In 2007, the i-Limb was introduces as the only prosthetic hands that had individually powered digits or fingers.  Many government agencies help to provide funding and support for advancements in this field of study. The U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to find a way for prosthetic limbs to go into the nervous system in hopes of creating a more natural sense of control and sensory reception and feedback. Their first contribution was the “Luke Arm” one of the first strap on prosthetic arms. Their second contribution was in Revolutionizing Prosthetics to make them more useful and like functioning healthy limbs. Their current project is examining brain-computer interfaces but this is still young in research. Their main goal in Revolutionizing Prosthetics was to make them more useful for people with all types of injuries resulting in amputation. Many things are involved in making these prosthetics successful. Sebelius introduced, SmartHand project that aimed to produce a normally functioning prosthetic hand. He stressed the areas of the brain involved with producing the sensation of missing a hand. He and his team continue to work toward the goal of having sensory feedback control the prosthetic. Money is another issue involved with these high-tech prosthetics. They hope to further the notion that a prosthetic is not a replacement for a lost limb but an enhancement using technology to better a healthy limb.  There is much advancement in this field of study that leads to better the use of prosthetic limbs.

http://kroeker.net/published/engineering-sensation-in-artificial-limbs.htm

Fine-motor skill deficits in childhood predict adulthood tic severity and global psychosocial functioning in Tourette’s syndrome

Bloch, M. H., Sukhodolsky, D. G., Leckman, J. F. & Schultz, R. T. (2006). Fine-motor skill deficits in childhood predict adulthood tic severity and global psychosocial functioning in Tourette’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47(6), 551–559. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01561.x

Chapter 11 of the text, which covers movement, discusses the implications of damage to specific brain areas. Specifically, it mentions how this damage can be displayed in disabilities in movement. For instance, damage to the basal ganglia can produce hyperkinetic symptoms, like those present in Parkinson’s disease, and damage to the secondary somatosensory cortex can disrupt how movements are preformed. Another instance of brain damage that is displayed via movement disabilities is when damage to the basal ganglia causes hypokinetic symptoms that can be shown in Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. Those diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome often have difficulty on neurological tests involving coordination of fine-motor movements and also integration of visual and motor tasks. The researchers in this study examined the fact that many children who have Tourette’s experience a decrease in the severity of their motor symptoms during adolescence; however, so do not experience this decline. They used fine-motor and visual-motor tasks to attempt to predict who would receive somewhat of a relief from symptoms later in life. It was longitudinal study, and the participants were given a clinical assessment, neurological tests, and another clinical assessment about seven years later. Poorer performance on the neurological motor task, the Purdue Pegboard, successfully predicted more severe symptoms later in life. Coincidentally, poorer performance on this task and another were also predictive of poor adult psychosocial functioning. Using knowledge gained for Chapter 11 material, it may indicate that the more severe the damage to the basal ganglia (therefore affected more types of movement that simply displaying hyperkinetic symptoms) would persist in severity beyond adolescence. The implications of the study provide a demonstration that some patients with Tourette’s syndrome could need more prolonged therapy and treatment.

Functional Connectivity for Somatosensory and Motor Cortex in Spastic Diplegia

Burton, H., Dixit, S., Litkowski, P., & Wingert, J. R. (2009). Functional connectivity for somatosensory and motor cortex in spastic diplegia. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 26(4), 90-104. doi:10.3109/08990220903335742

Chapter 11 in the textbook briefly discusses cerebral palsy and how it is a disorder of motor function resulting from brain damage that occurs prenatally.  Cerebral palsy results in loss of axons and neurons in the cerebral white and gray matter.  This study focuses on a subtype of cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, which is distinguished by a non-progressive periventricular white matter injury that causes extremely high muscle tone in the legs, hips, and pelvis.  The disorder reduces a child’s cortical inhibitory function.  The researchers in this study hypothesized that the cortical networks that are linked to somatosensory and motor cortex areas would be disordered and possibly smaller in spastic diplegia than in the normal controls.  Cortical networks were measured by functional connectivity analyses (fcMRI).  There were twenty-three participants in this study, twelve had spastic diplegia and eleven had no neurological disabilities.  Seed regions (sROI) were centered on foci that were activated by stimulation on the second fingertip in both the somatosensory region and the motor region.  Those participants with spastic diplegia were found to have had expanded functional connectivity in the somatosensory area but not the motor area compared to the participants with no neurological disorders in the somatosensory areas of the parietal cortex.  Also, a relationship was found between the networks of the parietal cortex somatosensory regions and the precentral motor cortex.  A possible explanation for these results is that those individuals with spastic diplegia have damage to their upper motor subplate neurons from white matter injury, which more than likely occurred prenatally in the third trimester.  Because these neurons are not properly developed, they significantly impact the functions of brain regions such as the motor cortex and basal ganglia, which ultimately cause abnormalities in movement.

Sensory Processing Subtypes in Autism: Association with Adaptive Behavior

Autism Spectrum disorder is a disorder that affects the brains development of social and communication skills. It is often diagnosed by age 3. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are often characterized by covering their ears to loud noises, small food preferences, dont react to pain, etc. That is what my article is about. This study aimed to describe patterns of sensory processing and examine the relationship between these patterns and group and adaptive behavior. Fifty-four autistic children and their caregivers participated in the study.They were given a Short Sensory Profile in which they completed and it measures and compares the abnormal sensory perception to typically developing children. They were also given a behavioral scale interview to examine adaptive behavior. The researcher found that their researcher supported the view that children with Austim spectrum disorders experience significant differences in sensory processing than normally developing kids. They were able to break down the results into 3 different sensory processing subgroups: 1. sensory based inattentive seeking- these have mild sensory perception problems, 2. sensory modulation with movement sensitivity- these have difficulties across all sensory processing areas, and 3. sensory modulation with taste/smell sensitivity- these exhibit difficulties in the sensory processing on taste and smell.


Lane, A., Young, R., Baker, A., & Angley, M. (2010). Sensory processing subtypes in autism: association with adaptive behavior. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 40(1), 112-122. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database on September 14, 2011.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=127&sid=cb61c5c9-19ac-4ef9-8d97-01c3cdd9b536%40sessionmgr112

Gesture and Motor Skill in Relation to Language in Children with Language Impairment.

Infants begin developing in the womb but motor skills and language development come sometime after being born. As babies age, they learn to crawl and then other motor skills develope such as grabbing things, and babbling. Usually language and motor skills are studied seperatly but the article if found studied them against each other. The purpose of the study was to to explore gesture and motor ability and their relationship to children with language impairment. The research had 3 goals: 1. characterize spontaneous gesture movement and its relation to language in children that had been referred for language impairment, 2. examine fine and gross motor skills in children with language impairment and typically developing kids, 3. to examine the extent to which the two measures contribute to expressive language. The researcher tested eleven children with language impairment and 16 children that were reguraly developing children of the same age. They completed 2 narration picture examinations and their language and getures were observed. The results they found were that when language is impaired, motoro skills are also delayed but gestures compensate for the delay in motor skills.


http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0e850b0a-1bdd-4a6b-87ba-2339c11c3839%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=127

Iverson, J., Braddock, B., (2011, February ). Gesture and Motor Skill in Relation to Language in Children with Language Impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Vol. 54.Retrieved from EBSCOhost database on September 14, 2011.

Coupling of head and body movement with motion of the audible environment

Stoffregen, T. A., Villard, S., Kim, C., Ito, K., & Bardy, B. G. (2009). Coupling of head and body movement with motion of the audible environment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(4), 1221-1231. doi:10.1037/a0014251

After talking about the chapter on stimulation and movement, I found an article on sensory stimulation and movement. The title of my article is “Coupling of head and body movement with motion of the audible environment.” Researches wanted to see if auditory stimulation could  control an adult’s standing posture. The study included three different experiments on auditory sensory and body movement. Even when blindfolded, participants were able to detect motion in the room. Along with detection, participants were able to move in the direction of the sound through head coupling. The study made sure that no priming or training was involved in this experiment to see if body movement was effected by the audible environment.

"Local and global cross-modal influences between vision and hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching"

Förster, J. (2011). Local and global cross-modal influences between vision and hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(3), 364-389. doi:10.1037/a0023175

The article I chose for the chapter on sensation and perception was titled “Local and Global Cross-modal Influence Between Vision and Hearing, Tasting, Smelling or Touching.” This study was carried out over a series of six experiments. The study said there were distinctions between global and local processing styles. Researcher found that inducing hearing, smelling, touching and tasting stimuli can carry over to global versus local vision. Researchers in this study also used priming to study processing styles. Findings showed that sensory modalities are related to vision through processing styles. The study also showed that a reaction in one sensory modality can cause an effect in the perception of a different sensory modality. From this study, researchers also wanted to look at whether the different sensory modalities had an effect on creativity.

"The early development of object knowledge: A study of infants’ visual anticipations during action observation"

Hunnius, S., & Bekkering, H. (2010). The early development of object knowledge: A study of infants’ visual anticipations during action observation. Developmental Psychology, 46(2), 446-454. doi:10.1037/a0016543
     While researching development, I found an article entitled “The Early Development of Object Knowledge: A Study of Infants’ Visual Anticipations During Action Observation.” This article talks about infant’s visual development through observation. Over the last decade, the eye movements of infants have become important measures in infancy research. The participants in this study, infants ages 6 to 16 months, were presented with short movie clips that showed functional and nonfunctional uses of everyday objects. Researchers predicted that older infants would show a stronger knowledge about different objects than younger infants. Researchers also hypothesized that younger infants would have knowledge about everyday objects, but would not be able to be observed performing the functional actions of those objects. The study found that infants at the early age of six months knew what actions went with two different objects, a phone and a cup. The study also showed that infants had trouble when they expected an objected to go to a certain location and the object went elsewhere. For example if they expected the cup to go to the mouth and the video showed the cup going to the ear. I found this article quite interesting.

Motion Extrapolation Into the Blind Spot

Chapter 9 discusses the blind spot, which is an area in the back of the retina that contains no photoreceptors. It is basically part of the eye where no vision or light is reflected into it. Each eye has one and it is also called the optic disc. I was interested in this part of the eye and came across a study by Gerrit W. Maus and Romi Nijhawah. They were measuring areas of the blind spot and what a person can percieve in its boundaries, which is defined in the article as the area encompassed by the blind spot.
The researchers' hypothesis was "the percieved position of the object is extrapolated during continuous motion, therefore it should be seen as disappearing in a position shifted forward past the blind-spot boundary into the blind area." In case you don't know what "extrapolation" means (because I didn't), it means to infer something. So basically an object is inferred, or believed, to exist even though one cannot see it, because its in their blind spot.
Five participants were in this study, an one was the author Maus himself. Only he knew the hypothesis of the study and the other four were uninformed.
Both of the eyes were tested one after the other, using an eye patch over the opposite eye. The participant would look at a black screen with 2 white lines, one in their visual field and the other not in their visual field. The bar in the visual field would move into the blind spot of that eye and start flicking on and off. There were 280 trials on performed on each eye.
In conclusion, the researchers discovered "the visual system predicts the postion of a moving object to overcome neural processing delays inherent in the visual pathway." Basically, the brain infers an object's position as it moves into the blind spot based on past visual information.

Maus, G.W., Nijhawan, R. (2008). Motion extrapolation into the blind spot. Psychological Sciences, 19(11), 1087-1091. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02205.x

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=110&sid=5949e40d-b7e2-41ed-8553-537b617a039f%40sessionmgr114

Interhemispheric Connectivity and Executive Functioning in Adults with Tourette Syndrome

Donkervoort, M., Kinsbourne, M., Margolis, A., & Perterson, B.S., (2006).  Interhemispheric

            Connectivity and executive functioning in adults with Tourette Syndrome.    

            Neuropsychology, 20(1), 66-76.  doi:  10.1037/0894-4105.20.1.66

            Tourette syndrome (TS) is the presence of chronic, semi-involuntary motor and vocal tics.  In those with TS the prefrontal cortex is smaller and the corpus callosum is larger than the average person.  Most research is focused on the function of the basal ganglia nuclei and the corpus callosum.  TS causes problems with dual task areas and also impairs performance on certain tasks.  Right handed people with TS perform abnormally on all measures pertaining to interhemispheric connectivity and also on integrating motor abilities on both hemispheres.  Left handed people are not affected as bad.  This is not the case with children.  Most children diagnosed with TS improve with treatment and in some cases go into remission by adulthood so they perform well with dual tasks and motor function.  The underlying brain function of those with TS still needs to be looked at further to be able to better understand all of the limitations of those with the syndrome.

Inhibitory control following perinatal brain injury

Abrams, R.A., Brunstrom, J.E., Christ, S.E., & White, D.A., (2003).  Inhibitory control following

            Perinatal brain injury.  Neuropsychology, 17(1), 171-178.  doi: 10.1037/0894-4105.17.1.

            171

            The article I chose is about Cerebral Palsy, specifically Bilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy (SCP).  In terms of maturity the prefrontal cortex is the last brain region to get there and continues to develop into adulthood.  The ability to perform executive abilities is housed in the PFC.  This study looks at early damage to the white matter tracts in the PFC and other brain areas.  Bilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy is traditionally caused by perinatal ischemia.  This is caused by periventricular leukomalacia which is damage to the white matter in zones around the lateral ventricles.  This causes blood supply to be limited and injury to this area is more likely during and ischemic episode.  This also affects the cortiospinal tracts, which may cause movement deficiencies, as well as the basal ganglia and the dopaminergic pathways. 

            Three tasks were used to evaluate the participants: Stroop, stimulus-response, and antisaccade.  13 children with SCP were used and all had complications like prematurity and received their diagnosis between 1 and 3 years of age.  These children did worse at the above three tasks than the control group.  They respond and perform slower because their inhibitory control is affected by the brain injury.  SCP causes a disruption in the frontostriatal networks and the pathways of inhibitory control are affected as well.

Brain-Behavior Correlations: Relationships between Mother-Stranger face processing and infants behavioral responses to a separation from mother

Swingler, M.M., Sweet, M.A., & Carver, L.J., (2010).  Brain-Behavior correlations: 

            Relationships between mother-stranger face processing and infants behavioral responses

            To a separation from mother.  Developmental Psychology, 46(3), 669-680. doi: 10.1037/a

            0018907

            In infancy an important developmental milestone is being able to recognize the mothers face from others in their surroundings.  This normally occurs by 6 months of age. This article looks at how stress and separation anxiety relate to the brain reactions of the infant when looking at both faces.  From 3 to 7 months infant begin to categorize faces by certain characteristics like gender, expression and how familiar they are with the face.  By 6 months of age a preference toward the mothers face is shown in both behavioral and neurophysiological ways. 

            In this study 30 full term 6 month old infants were used. Half were male and the other half female.  Each mother was photographed and wore the same clothing.  They were not allowed to wear anything identifying like jewelry.  Each infant was tested separately by being taken away from and the reunited with their mother over a 15 minute time span while wearing an electrode cap to monitor brain response.  Two specific behaviors were identified as critical to facial recognition with infants.  Looking for the mother and distress from separation showed the preference for the mothers face over the strangers.  More visual processing was used in those who were more stressed without mom.  They also found that these infants had a cross hemisphere reaction that showed higher attention and processing skills.  This is attributed to the fact that the mothers face is processed in the left hemisphere and is also associated with positive emotion whereas the strangers face is processed on the left and gives a negative emotion.

            The mother infant bond is more likely to develop from social interactions as well as with the behavioral and neural connections that change with age.  The social brain is increased by interaction and is affected by the environment.

Perception of Shapes Targeting Local and Global Processes in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Grinter, E. J., Maybery, M. T., Pellicano, E., Badcock, J. C., & Badcock, D. R. (2010). Perception of shapes targeting local and global processes in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 51(6), 717-724. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02203.x

I chose this article due to our extensive discussion in class of dorsal and ventral visual streams from Chapter 9 in the textbook and my interest in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs).  Research shows that ASDs are characterized by difficulties in complex information processing, with ASDs being associated with higher thresholds on global dorsal stream processing and with evidence of intact local dorsal stream processing that requires identifying the direction or presence of motion.  The purpose of this study was to examine both local and global visual functioning in the ventral stream by using shapes to minimize the differences between local and global.  Radial frequency patterns (RF) are closed contour shape stimuli that vary the radius of a circle by polar angles in order to create deformity.  High frequency RF patterns can discriminate a whole shape from a circle and are achieved by locally oriented cells in the primary visual cortex (V1).  The researchers used RF3 patterns to assess the global ventral stream processing and RF24 patterns to assess the local ventral stream processing.  Their hypothesis was that ASDs would show higher thresholds on a RF3 task due to poor global processing in the ventral stream.  Thirty-eight high-functioning children ages 8 to 16 were recruited with those having an ASD being recruited through an autism register.  The RF patterns were displayed on a touch screen computer where the child had to choose if the shape, which was either a circle or a RF3/RF24 pattern, looked like a squashed egg or had bumps on it.  Results showed that the researchers’ hypothesis was correct in that the RF3 pattern had a higher threshold in ASDs compared to children without ASDs.  However, there were no significant differences found between the circle and the RF24 pattern.  These results indicate that individuals with ASDs experience problems in global processing within the ventral visual stream, which means that ASDs are associated with difficulty in recognizing the orientation, size, color, and texture of objects.  This study was important in that it may have sparked a discussion among psychologists to begin to use RF patterns as a tool for examining visual function in ASDs.

Visual Perception and Awareness: A Modular System

Celesia, G. G. (2010). Visual perception and awareness: A modular system. Journal of Psychophysiology, 24(2), 62-67. doi:10.1027/0269-8803/a000014

The inability to realize that one is seeing is phenomenal. The ability to not only see, but to be able to comprehend is taken for granted as a biological function in daily life. The following came from Celesia’s collection of case studies over a period of time. All of the participants had some form of lesion in the brain, one of which had a lesion which made communication between the occipital lobe and the rest of the brain impossible. One of the participants, a lady with visual agnosia, could draw out the basic shapes of objects, but never finish them, and she could copy shapes, but could not say what they were. Celesia also had participants among the case study who suffered from blindsight due to lack of blood to the occipital lobe. The participants could find objects asked of them, but did not recall finding them afterwards. In another group of individuals studied who had undergone strokes, participants vocalized only being able to see grays, none vocalized any color in their sight, but several could imagine colors.  

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence of Motor Cortex Activation Related to an Amputated Limb: A Multisensorial Approach

The article I chose was called “Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence of Motor

Cortex Activation Related to an Amputated Limb: A Multisensorial Approach.” The researchers of this article were Pascale Touzalin-Chretien, Solange Ehrler, and André Dufour. I chose this article because I am very interested in the phenomenon of phantom limb in amputees. Working in a rehabilitation facility I hear many of the amputees describe having achy pains or having an itchy feeling in their amputated limb. It is fascinating to both the patient and I because you would think that there would be no pain or itchiness in the amputated limb, but it still remains. For those who do not known what phantom limb sensations are it is the “impression that an amputated limb is still present.”

There were two purposes of this research. The first was “whether cortical motor areas can activate by visual inputs form the corresponding limb.” The second was “whether cortical activations corresponding to the missing limb can affect motor performances of the remaining limb.” The aims were measured by having the participant behind a mirror which gave the illusion that their missing limb was still intact when performing a motor task. There were a total of eight participants: four with traumatic upper-limb loss and four with congenital upper-limb loss that were broken down into two experiments.

The first experiment focused on proprioceptive persistence for those who were missing a limb due to trauma. The researchers measured the motor performance of the remaining hand by asking the participants to draw an object on a mirror task using a digital pen. Researchers found that the mirror-drawing can improve missing or inactive movements in both traumatic and congenital amputees which was seen from the motor cortex. The second experiment used the information found in the first experiment and added a third group of normal participants. These participants had to complete a task with either their right hand or their intact hand by pressing a button quickly when a light appeared. There were three positions used: direct view, sagital mirror view, and a frontal view.

            There were many results found in this study. One, interesting finding was that, those who were in the normal limbed group and the trauma amputees group dealt with visuopropriceptive information in a very similar manner. Both groups had more difficulties performing the task when the mirror was placed in the frontal view. Secondly, this research found that proprioceptive sensations could emerge from the missing limb when the remaining limb was viewed through a mirror, even when the amputation occurred many years later. Thirdly, it was interesting to read that those who lost a limb through trauma and those who not born with a limb both experienced phantom sensations. Lastly, this article showed the hemisphere that was contralateral to the amputation indicated neural activity in the primary motor cortex with respect to the amputated hand.

Source:

Touzalin-Chretien, P., Ehrler, S., & Dufour, A. (2009). Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence of Motor Cortex Activation Related to an Amputated Limb: A Multisensorial Approach. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(11), 2207-2216. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Motor and Sensory Nerve Conduction are Affected Differently by Ice Pack, Ice Massage, and Cold Water Immersion.

The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of different cold treatments on nerves. Cryotherapy is a method of therapy that has been shown to reduce pain and prevent muscle spasms. Perhaps this is why professional athletes use ice baths after a strenuous workout. They use this method of recovery after workouts to reduce the pain associated. This study compared three different ways to cool skin and muscle tissue; ice pack, ice massage, and cold water immersion.

This study consisted of 18 men and 18 women, taking into account the participants’ body mass index, age, and height. Skin temperatures were measured using an infrared thermometer that displays precise results. And nerve conduction measurements were established using standard electrodes. The participants were randomly assigned into three groups, and all the participants received the method at the same time to avoid differences in circadian clocks among individuals. The procedure was tested on the same body part, the right calf. The three different methods were applied for 15 minutes continuously by the same person. For the cold water immersion, the participant was asked to place the right leg into a prepared container of cold water. The skin temperature and the nerve conductors were measured both before and after the procedure. There was a decrease in skin temperature after the application of the three different methods. The ice massage caused a greater decrease in skin temperature than with the ice pack and with the cold water immersion. All three of the methods showed an increase in action potential in motor nerves. The cold water immersion had, by far the most influence on the motor and sensory nerves than the ice massage and ice pack. There was no difference between the ice pack and the ice massage results on the effects of the motor and sensory nerves.

There are limitations that should be addressed. Because neither the ice pack method or the ice massage method required the removal of electrodes, but the cold water immersion did, the data could be skewed. Another limitation is the area that the ice pack and the ice massage were much smaller than that of the cold water immersion. Also, all of the participants were young and healthy, perhaps there would have been a different outcome if the participants ages differed.

Herrera, E., Sandoval, M. C., Camargo, D. M., & Salvini, T. F. (2010). Motor and Sensory Nerve Conduction Are Affected Differently by Ice Pack, Ice Massage, and Cold Water Immersion. Physical Therapy, 90(4), 581-591. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Executive Functions and Social Competence in Young Children 6 Months Following Traumatic Brain Injury

This article grabbed my attention because I have a best friend whose son suffered traumatic brain injury at 2 months. They measured 87 children 3 to 6 months post injury and compared them to 119 children with orthopedic injuries. What they found was that the children with brain injury did worse than those suffering from orthopedic injuries on tests of executive functioning and social behavior, using neurological testing and parent (social) ratings. My only concern is that 3 to 6 months is not an ample amount of time for recovery (complete).

Executive functions and social competence in young children 6 months following traumatic brain injury.

Ganesalingam, Kalaichelvi; Yeates, Keith Owen; Taylor, H. Gerry; Walz, Nicolay Chertkoff; Stancin, Terry; Wade, Shari

Neuropsychology, Vol 25(4), Jul 2011, 466-476. doi: 10.1037/a0022768

Modifications of EEG Related to Directed Perception and Analysis of Olfactory Information in Humans

Modifications of EEG Related to Directed Perception and Analysis of Olfactory Information in Humans

A.A. Cherninskii, I.G. Zima, N. Ye. Makarchouk, N. G. Piskorskaya, and S.A. Kryzhanovskii

The article I chose to cover sensation and perception is “Modifications of EEG Related to Directed Perception and Analysis of Olfactory Information in Humans.”   Researchers used pleasant and unpleasant smells with the participants to see changes in an EEG.   They wanted to see what areas received the most change in the EEG during stimulation.  Participants were seating in an armchair in a dark room.  After an initial reading, participants were exposed to a pleasant smell, a neutral smell, and an unpleasant smell.  Recordings were taken from the symmetric frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal loci.   The smells from previous recordings were not thought to be confounding for the study due to a ventilation system utilized between the readings.  Perceptions of the smells were accompanied by considerable modifications on the EEG.  Functional domination in the left parietal/temporal zone was noted when it comes to perception of the olfactory stimuli.

Neural evidence that vivid Imagining can lead to false remembering

Gonsalves, B., Reber, P. J., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., Mesulam, M., & Paller, K. A. (2004). Neural Evidence That Vivid Imagining Can Lead to False Remembering. Psychological Science 15(10), 655-660.

Chapter 9 in the text explains the neurological processes involved in sensation of visual stimuli. Specifically, it mentions the involvement cingulate and parietal cortex. In this article, researchers found that these same areas that are utilized in visual imagery are associated and activated in encoding false images. Basically, the researchers attempted to induce false memories. They did this by instructing participants to read the names of common, concrete objects and mentally visualized them. Half of the names were followed by a photographic representation of the named object. In a surprise memory test given outside the scanner, subjects listened to object names and decided whether they had seen a picture of the object corresponding to each name. During the showing of words and sometimes pictures, fMRI images were recorded. In this experiment, participants had some level of difficulty distinguishing between perceived and imagined objects. Researchers found that in the participants who had false memories of perceiving objects, visual areas of the brain were more likely to be stimulated after the word had been presented. They were effective in observing neural events that coincide with the formation of false memories. Those who more vividly mentally visualize objects are more likely to remember actually perceiving them. This is particularly interesting to me because of its utility in application to my field of interest -- forensic psychology. Eyewitness testimony has been one of the most researched areas in this field, as well as one of the most controversial. Further understanding of how false memories are encoded, specifically visually, might help us further deal with the controversy of the validity of eyewitness accounts.  These are important specifically during the sensation and perception of events, persons, sequence of events, etc in the witnessing of a crime.

Left-Handedness in Blind and Sighted Children

The article I researched deals with left-handedness in blind and sighted children. I am interested in this topic because both my younger brother and my younger sister are left-handed, whilst ever other person in our close relatives and extended family is right-handed.
The study took place in Blind Schools for children in Turkey. There were 1371 blind children and 831 blind children, of those, 823 were boys and 564 girls. The age of the participants ranged from 7 to 12 years. The participants were separated into three groups according to their visual acuity; total congenital blindness, blind with very poor visual acuity, and blind with poor visual acuity. There was a control group and an experimental group. The Edinburgh Handedness Scale was applied to all the children. A modified Edinburgh Handedness Scale, which had been converted to Braille was used for the blind children.
The researchers used nonparametrics and crosstab Pearson chi-square tests in SPSS to accumulate results.
When comparing boys and girls, the occurrence of left-handedness was significantly higher in blind than sighted children.  It was also found that the group with higher visual acuity had higher rates of left-handedness. In this study, the conclusion that left-handedness is more prevalent in blind children may suggest a reorganization of neural networks in the blind.
Caliskan, E., & Dane, S. (2009). Left-handedness in blind and sighted children. Laterality, 14(2), 205-213. doi:10.1080/13576500802586251

Treatment of Chronic Phantom Limb Pain Using a Trauma-Focused Psychological Approach

de Roos C., Veenstra, A.C., de Jongh A., den Hollander-Gijsman M.E., van der Wee N.J.A., Zitman, F. G., & van Rood Y.R. (2010). Treatment of chronic phantom limb pain using a trauma-focused psychological approach. Pain and Research Management: The Journal of the Canadian Pain Society, 15(2), 65-71. http://www.pulsus.com/journals/journalHome.jsp?origPg=journalHome.jsp&jnlKy=7&/home.htm&&HCtype=Consumer

In chapter 11 of our textbook, there is a research focus topic on phantom limbs. This whole phenomenon fascinates me, so I researched articles and found this one by several collaborating researchers. The overall hypothesis, or goal, was researching "the effectiveness of a trauma-focused psychological approach in the treatment of chronic phantom limb pain (PLP), using a standardized eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) pain protocol." Since EMDR is used to rid trauma related memories, this technique was applied to PLP to either reduce or erradicate the memory-related pain in the phantom limb.
Participants ranged from age 32 to 67. There were ten participants in all, six males and four females. They all were assessed for chronic PLP before research began. The operational definition of PLP is reporting aching, squeezing, cramping, shooting, burning, stinging, or stabbing sensations. An average pain intensity was measured and recorded over a two week period and a long-term follow up.
A pretest/posttest design was utilized and data was collected two weeks prior to treatment and at two weeks, 3 months, and long-term subsequent to the treatment. Paricipants also kept a pain diary where they recorded pain as 0, feeling no pain, to 10, feeling the worst possible pain.
There were several different measures used during the treatment process: the Dutch version of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) to determine psychological distress; the Checklist Individual Strength-Revised (CIS-20R) to measure fatique; the Dutch version of Impact of Events Scale and the Self-Inventory List to measure intensity of PTSD symptoms; and the Dutch version of the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) to measure the overall qualtiy of life due to health.
The treatment of EMDR involved eight stages involving bringing up the pain related distressing image and reassociating it with a positive image, while performing bilateral stimulation, which is moving the eyes quickly from left to right. This desensitization of the bad memory was repeated until the memory no longer existed, or was associated with the pain. The treatment ended when the patient noted a diminished or non-existent pain in the phantom limb.
The results were analyzed using a one-sample t-test in SPSS.
This study revealed treating bad memories through EMDR may relieve symptoms of PLP in some people. At the end of the three month period, four participants reported no pain and eight said their pain had diminished. Overall, the researchers concluded, "Cortical reorganization can be altered by changing the sensory input in the neural network either by strengthening it or taking it away."
Overall, the re-association technique seemed to be affective in treating those ten participants. They had to desensitize that area in the brain that reproduced the non-existent limb, so that the participants no longer felt pain.

Cell proliferation in the striatum during postnatal development: preferential distribution in subregions of the ventral striatum

Cell proliferation in the striatum during postnatal development: preferential distribution in subregions of the ventral striatum Rachelle E. Stopczynski, Stacey L. Poloskey,Suzanne N. Habe

Brain Struct Funct (2008) 213:119–127
DOI 10.1007/s00429-008-0185-1

The Article I chose was "Cell proliferation in the striatum during postnatal development: preferential distribution in subregions of the ventral striatum" written by Rachelle E. Stopczynski, Stacey L. Poloskey, and Suzanne N. Habe. I chose this article because it was looking at development of the brain with areas related to decision making and goal setting. The researchers were looking at cell development in striatal regions related to specific frontal cortical areas. The researchers "studied postnatal cell proliferation in striatal regions receiving inputs from cortical areas associated with different aspects of incentive-based learning compared to areas that receive inputs from motor control areas."  The researchers examined monkey brains at different time periods after injecting the monkeys with a compound.  The results were consistent with previous research. The greatest number of new cells was found in the 5 months/1year group.  Researchers found a suggestion of the brains maintaining some aspects of plasticity into adulthood.

Using Clinical Tests of Colour Vision to Predict the Ability of Colour Vision Deficient Patients to Name Surface Colours

The article I chose was called “Using clinical tests of colour vision to predict the ability of colour vision deficient patients to name surface colours.” The researchers of this article were Barry L. Cole, Ka-Yee Lian, and Carol Lakkis. I chose this article for many different reasons. First, I have always been fascinated about color abnormalities. Secondly, my uncle was born color blind, but his wife would always ask him “what color is this?” Of course he did not get the colors right and would feel frustrated at himself because he did not know what color of objects. Thirdly, I found it interesting when reading this article because it stated that optometrists had to tell their clients if they would be able to do their jobs or not since some jobs used color as a main focus. For example optometrists had to determine if their clients would be able to see and read the color scheme associated with construction work or even air traffic communication.

The purpose of this research was “to determine the predictive power of commonly used tests for abnormal color vision to identify patients who can or cannot name surface colors without error.” There were a total of 99 individuals who had a color deficiency and a control group of 20. These participants were tested using the different types of tests which included the Ishihara test, the Richmond HRR test, the Medmont C100 test, the Farnsworth D15 test and the Type 1 Nagel anomaloscope test. The participants were then asked to name ten surface colors that were in two different shapes with three different sizes.  

The control group did not make any errors, however those who had a color deficiency made a 37% error. It was found that fewer errors were made with the larger sized objects than with the smaller sized objects. For those who were considered “mild” on the Richmond HRR test were able to tell the colors of ten different color codes. About 60% of those who passed the Farnsworth D15 test made no errors naming the ten different color schemes. Ultimately, these results can help optometrists make the important decision to let their clients work in a specific field or not.  

Source:

Cole, B.L., Lian, K., & Lakkis, C. (2007). Using clinical tests of colour vision to predict the ability of colour vision deficient patients to name surface colours. Ophthalmology Physiology Optometry 27, 381–388.

Training the brain: Practical applications of neural plasticity from the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and prevention science

Training the brain: Practical applications of neural plasticity from the intersection of cognitive   neuroscience, developmental psychology, and prevention science. Bryck, Richard L. & Fisher, Philip A. American Psychologist, Jul 25, 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a0024657

The seventh chapter in our textbook emphasizes the brain’s plasticity throughout development. The brain is capable of changing and growing throughout life, especially in the critical periods where a vast array of information is taken in and skills develop more rapidly. I researched an article which examined brain plasticity throughout development, and in more depth, two types of “brain-training exercises” and their usefulness.

Brain plasticity can be a good and a bad thing, as evidenced by information in the article I researched, as well as the text. For instance, the study of the rats which lived in enriched environments versus the rats which lived in laboratory cages resulted in “enriched-environment” rats which performed markedly better on maze tests than their laboratory counterparts. Their brains thrived with the abundance of environmental stimulation. It also resulted in rats which showed deficiencies because they matured in a non-stimulating environment (lab cages).

This is one example of myriad research undertakings which have shown both the negative effects of a sub-par environment on the brain and the positive effects of a stimulating environment on it.

There is also research that shows that sometimes negative effects are reversible. After examining some rats that were exposed to stress early in their lives and then switched to an enriching environment, researchers noted that the rats had an increase in brain weight and size, an increase in dendritic branching and length, an increase in quantity of synapses, and an improvement in spatial memory tasks.

In the article I researched, Fisher and Bryck wondered how applicable such research would be to humans, who have more complex brain structures than rats and other animals commonly used in research.

There is one area, they noted, in which evidence of plasticity in both humans and animals is mounting. This is exercise; neurogenesis after exercise is an effect observed in both animals and humans. Also, older individuals who followed an exercise regimen for a year, when compared to a control group which just did toning and stretching exercises, had an increase in anterior hippocampus volume. The stretching group actually lost the same amount of volume in a year.

The authors of the article I researched examined the two common “brain-training methods” used for increasing brain plasticity in children and compared the methods’ usefulness, effectiveness, etc.

The first method is laboratory-based training. This method primarily involves a computer-based, timed, repeated performance task. It works on a specific neurobehavior at any given time. Its goals are to improve overall psychosocial well-being, reduce behavioral problems, and reduce symptoms of clinical disorders. It historically has shown only marginal improvements, but recently, improvements in the method have brought more sound results. One benefit is the ease by which this method rules out confounds.

Neurobiologically informed ecological intervention is the other method. These interventions occur in a natural setting like a home or school and have higher external validity than the laboratory-based training. These interventions have often been successful, but are also very time-inefficient and costly.