Nicola Brunswick

Abnormal Functional Activation During a Simple Word Repetition Task: A PET Study of Adult Dyslexics

Eight dyslexic subjects, impaired on a range of tasks requiring phonological processing, were matched for age and general ability with six control subjects. Participants were scanned using positron emission tomography (PET) during three conditions: repeating real words, repeating pseudowords, and rest. In both groups, speech repetition relative to rest elicited widespread bilateral activation in areas associated with auditory processing of speech; there were no significant differences between words and pseudowords. However, irrespective of word type, the dyslexic group showed less activation than the control group in the right superior temporal and right post-central gyri and also in the left cerebellum. Notably, the right anterior superior temporal cortex (Brodmanns area 22 [BA 22]) was less activated in each of the eight dyslexic subjects, compared to each of the six control subjects. This deficit appears to be specific to auditory repetition as it was not detected in a previous study of reading which used the same sets of stimuli (Brunswick, N., McCrory, E., Price, C., Frith, C.D., & Frith, U. [1999]. Explicit and implicit processing of words and pseudowords by adult developmental dyslexics: A search for Wernickes Wortschatz? Brain, 122, 1901-1917). This implies that the observed neural manifestation of developmental dyslexia is task-specific (i.e., functional rather than structural). Other studies of normal subjects indicate that attending to the phonetic structure of speech leads to a decrease in right-hemisphere processing. Lower right hemisphere activation in the dyslexic group may therefore indicate less processing of non-phonetic aspects of speech, allowing greater salience to be accorded to phonological aspects of attended speech.

Public awareness of warning signs for cancer in Britain

AbstractBackground: The objective of this study was to establish the level of public awareness of warning signs for cancer in Britain. Methods: An interview-based survey of a representative sample of the UK population was undertaken; 3693 men and women completed the interview (69% response rate). The data from this survey included demographic characteristics as well as recognition of the ‘seven warning signs for cancer’. Findings: Results revealed that recognition of signs ranged from 81% (‘thickening or lump’; n = 2994) to 37% (‘indigestion/difficulty swallowing’; n = 1356). On average participants identified 4.2 of the signs, with only 1.6% (n = 58) identifying all seven. There were strong associations with demographic characteristics, with better recognition being associated with being female, married, higher socioeconomic status (SES), higher income, a home-owner and having more years of education. Interpretation: From these results we conclude that fewer than one in ten of the UK population can recognize seven warning signs for cancer, but the mean number recognized (4.2 signs) suggests that there is a reasonable level of public awareness. It must be cause for concern that most markers of lower SES are independently associated with poorer recognition, suggesting that public education needs to do more to narrow the inequalities in health knowledge.

Auditory event-related potentials, dichotic listening performance and handedness as indices of lateralisation in dyslexic and normal readers

Evidence suggests that children with developmental dyslexia have poor phonological processing skills, are less likely to show lateralised activation during the processing of verbal information than children with normal reading ability and tend towards the left of the handedness continuum. The present study investigated this relationship between cerebral lateralisation and reading ability in children with and without dyslexia, directly using a dichotic listening paradigm with contemporaneous recording of auditory evoked potentials and indirectly using measures of hand preference and hand skill. The two groups were significantly different on a phonemic awareness task, particularly with reference to rime rather than phoneme onset. The two groups performed equally well on the dichotic listening task. However, normal readers produced significantly greater N100 amplitudes in the left temporal region during dichotic listening than the dyslexics who displayed approximately equivalent levels of amplitude bilaterally. In terms of hand preference the dyslexics were significantly less right-hand preferent than the controls, although the groups did not differ on a measure of right/left hand skill. The AEP lateralisation indices and the hand preference scores were significantly related to phonemic awareness performance. The different patterns of AEP activity produced by the two groups of children during the dichotic listening task and the differences in hand preference may be related to abnormal cerebral lateralisation of language functions. The failure of the dichotic listening task to discriminate between the two groups in spite of evidence of differences in cortical activation suggests that the processing difficulties which may be indexed by these differences in cortical activation affect the reading process at a later stage than that tapped by dichotic listening.

Trait and state EEG indices of information processing in developmental dyslexia

L asymmetry in beta activity in the dyslexic group, again in both tasks. Theta activity did discriminate between the two tasks in the dyslexic group. In the phonological task, task-related frontal theta in the dyslexic group was significantly different from the control group, with the former showing an increase in amplitude and the latter a decrease. In the visual task, there was no significant difference between the dyslexic and the control group, with both showing a task-related decrease in amplitude. The inter-task variations in EEG response in the dyslexic group paralleling variations in task performance are interpreted in terms of the varying engagement of a frontally-based attentional system. Inter-task consistencies of EEG response despite variations in performance are interpreted in terms of the continued application of a specific cognitive strategy.

Early cognitive profiles of emergent readers:a longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examined the contribution of phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visuospatial ability to reading development in 142 English-speaking children from the start of kindergarten to the middle of Grade 2. Partial cross-lagged analyses revealed significant relationships between early performance on block design and matching letter-like forms tasks and later reading ability. Rhyme awareness correlated with later reading ability during the earliest stages, but onset awareness did not emerge as important until after the children had started reading. Digit span correlated significantly with future reading ability at every stage. These findings indicate that although phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visuospatial ability are all necessary for emergent reading, their relative importance varies across the first 2 years of reading development.

Local processing enhancements associated with superior observational drawing are due to enhanced perceptual functioning, not weak central coherence

Individuals with drawing talent have previously been shown to exhibit enhanced local visual processing ability. The aim of the current study was to assess whether local processing biases associated with drawing ability result from a reduced ability to cohere local stimuli into global forms, or an increased ability to disregard global aspects of an image. Local and global visual processing ability was assessed in art students and controls using the Group Embedded Figures Task, Navon shape stimuli, the Block Design Task and the Autism Spectrum Quotient, whilst controlling for nonverbal IQ and artistic ability. Local processing biases associated with drawing appear to arise from an enhancement of local processing alongside successful filtering of global information, rather than a reduction in global processing. The relationship between local processing and drawing ability is independent of individual differences in nonverbal IQ and artistic ability. These findings have implications for bottom-up and attentional theories of observational drawing, as well as explanations of special skills in autism.

Drawing on the right side of the brain: a voxel-based morphometry analysis of observational drawing

Structural brain differences in relation to expertise have been demonstrated in a number of domains including visual perception, spatial navigation, complex motor skills and musical ability. However no studies have assessed the structural differences associated with representational skills in visual art. As training artists are inclined to be a heterogeneous group in terms of their subject matter and chosen media, it was of interest to investigate whether there would be any consistent changes in neural structure in response to increasing representational drawing skill. In the current study a cohort of 44 graduate and post-graduate art students and non-art students completed drawing tasks. Scores on these tasks were then correlated with the regional grey and white matter volume in cortical and subcortical structures. An increase in grey matter density in the left anterior cerebellum and the right medial frontal gyrus was observed in relation to observational drawing ability, whereas artistic training (art students vs. non-art students) was correlated with increased grey matter density in the right precuneus. This suggests that observational drawing ability relates to changes in structures pertaining to fine motor control and procedural memory, and that artistic training in addition is associated with enhancement of structures pertaining to visual imagery. The findings corroborate the findings of small-scale fMRI studies and provide insights into the properties of the developing artistic brain.

Comfort and challenge: a thematic analysis of female clinicians’ experiences of supervision

OBJECTIVE The supervision of counsellors, counselling psychologists, and psychotherapists is generally perceived to be an invaluable component of training and practice. The present study analysed this process to explore the meanings of supervision and to consider implications for clinical practice and training. DESIGN This study presents the accounts of 19 psychological therapists who experienced supervision while working at a London-based womens therapy centre. METHOD Demographic information was collected by questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore aspects of the supervisory experience. The qualitative data were thematically analysed. RESULTS Supervision has complex and paradoxical meanings, and it impacts on clinical counselling practice in multifarious ways. Dominant themes highlighted were the usefulness of supervision, specifically support, empowerment, and joining; fear of exposure in supervision versus gaining new information; the comfort versus the challenge of supervision; and supervision as a containing space. CONCLUSIONS An experiential model of supervision was developed from the data. This model complements existing models in the field. It could be evaluated and used alongside existing models in various training and supervision contexts. Findings are discussed in relation to the literature on clinical supervision.

Women counsellors' experiences of personal therapy: A thematic analysis

Background: Following recent moves to relax the requirements for clinical mental health trainees to undergo personal therapy, this qualitative project explored the effects of personal therapy on volunteer counsellors. Method: Interviews were conducted with 19 volunteer counsellors at a womens community centre, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Emerging themes included the importance of personal therapy for trainee development, key elements of personal therapy and the idea that personal therapy is ‘a double-edged sword’. Discussion: Allowing for evident methodological difficulties in evaluating the impact of personal therapy on trainees, this study suggests that close consideration should be given to the potentially adverse effects of reducing requirements for personal therapy in clinical trainings.

Evaluation of long-term counselling at a community health service for women who are on a low income

AbstractAims: Given the lack of research evaluating long-term counselling, coupled with the lack of women-only counselling services, the present study evaluated the long-term counselling service offered by a women-only community health centre. Method: The research ascertained: (1) the characteristics of 155 service users pre-counselling, (2) the views and experiences of 75 service users post-counselling, and (3) pre–post-counselling clinical change in 98 service users via the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Outcome Measure (CORE-OM). Results: Unemployment, low income and reports of abuse were related to poorer mental health as measured by the CORE-OM. Content analysis of open-ended questions revealed that women felt supported, comfortable and gained insight through the counselling relationship. They also reported positive changes in their lives, relationships, health behaviours, and psychological wellbeing. Post-counselling improvements were found in CORE-OM scores. Conclusions: Long-term counse...