Patricia Ann Beatty

Frontal lobe dysfunction and memory impairment in patients with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis

Deficits in semantic encoding have been described in patients with frontal lobe disease who also show memory impairments. As a group, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit memory impairment, fail to make effective use of semantic encoding to aid memory, and perform poorly on verbal fluency and concept formation tests which are sensitive to frontal lobe damage. In the present study the semantic encoding capacity of MS patients was measured using a modification of Wickens release from proactive interference (PI) paradigm. Individual patients varied considerably in the severity of their impairments on verbal fluency, verbal recognition memory and on Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, but even patients who evidenced both memory impairment and signs of frontal lobe dysfunction showed normal release from PI after a categorical shift. Memory disturbances in MS are unlikely to result from an incapacity for semantic encoding, which seems preserved in MS, but may arise instead from deficits in processing information rapidly.

The effects of ACTH, adrenalectomy and dexamethasone on the acquisition of an avoidance response in rats

Abstract Exogenous elevation of circulating ACTH level facilitated the acquisition of a two-way avoidance response at a high but not at a moderate US intensity. Injections of ACTH had no general effect on spontaneous shuttling activity, escape behavior to light-onset, or intertrial responding during avoidance conditioning. Adrenalectomy, which resulted in minimal plasma levels of adrenocortical hormones and, presumably, elevated levels of ACTH, also facilitated avoidance responding. Injection of dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid and ACTH inhibitor, produced severe weight loss and hypophagia, but did not influence avoidance performance. However, the failure of dexamethasone to affect acquisition of avoidance responding was not related to its effect on body weight and food intake. The action of ACTH on avoidance conditioning is clearly extra-adrenal, but ACTH is not essential to normal performance, at least when high levels of glucocorticoids are present.

Affective judgments by patients with Parkinson’s disease or chronic progressive multiple sclerosis

Both patients with Parkinson’s disease or chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and neurologically normal controls judged the emotional expression of faces from a standardized set of photographs. Both groups of patients were impaired on the affective judgment task and on Benton’s Facial Recognition Test. Multiple regression analysis showed that performance on the facial recognition test accounted for 44% of the variance in performance on the affective judgment task, whereas scores on the Beck Depression Inventory did not predict the accuracy of affective judgments. Inaccurate judgments of affect by patients with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis appear to have been secondary to their impaired ability to discriminate details of facial stimuli.

Cognitive and behavioral features of adolescent coping in high-risk drinking situations

The present study examined the coping responses used by adolescents in high-risk situations. Sixty-six adolescents described situations in which it was difficult to resist drinking alcohol. Cognitive and behavioral responses in the perceived high-risk alcohol situations were examined. Abusing and nonabusing adolescents reported similar high-risk situations, but differed significantly in the cognitive and behavioral strategies used to cope with drinking pressures. Cognitive strategies associated with abstaining from alcohol use included defining oneself as a nondrinker and viewing other drinkers negatively. Behavioral responses associated with not drinking included engaging in an alternative activity and avoiding or limiting direct exposure to the high-risk situations. Theoretical and clinical implications for effective coping in alcohol situations are discussed.

Differential effects of dexamethasone and body weight loss on two measures of activity.

Abstract The effect of dexamethasone on activity in the running wheel and in the shuttlebox was studied in the female rat. A single injection of dexamethasone was without effect on activity on the day of injection, but injection of dexamethasone for four consecutive days produced progressive increases in running activity that appeared on the second day of injection and persisted for two days after injections were terminated. The effects of dexamethasone on running wheel activity were closely paralleled by progressive loss of body weight in the dexamethasone group. Quantitatively similar increases in activity resulted from food depriving control rats to produce a pattern of weight loss similar to that caused by dexamethasone treatment. By contrast, neither dexamethasone nor deprivation affected activity in the shuttlebox. Increases in running wheel activity following dexamethasone treatment appear to result from weight loss caused by the drug.

A sex difference in the extinction of avoidance behavior in rats

Significantly more females than males met criterion for the acquisition of a shuttle-avoidance response. Among Ss meeting criterion, females displayed increased resistance to extinction of the avoidance response. The relationship between sex differences in avoidance behavior and adrenocortical functioning was discussed.

Clothing as a symbol of status: Its effect on control of interaction territory

Based upon status ratings by 154 adults, three types of attire (clothing typical of a student, a priest, and a businessman) were selected for use in a field study investigating control of interaction territory. Two male confederates, one neatly but casually dessed, the other dressed as a student, priest, or businessman, were situated in a department store doorway either 42 or 54 in. apart. During half of the 600 observations, the confederates were conversing. At the close distance, people tended to detour around all dyads; neither attire nor conversation affected the number of territorial invasions. At the far distance, shoppers frequently invaded the space between the nonconversing confederates; when conversing, however, dyads with a member dressed as a priest or businessman (higher status ratings) detoured significantly more shoppers than the dyad with a member dressed as a student (lower status rating). The results indicate that cues to the status of one’s social role provided by attire are important determinants of the sanctity of one’s interaction territory.

Effects of neonatal testosterone on the acquisition of an active avoidance response in genotypically female rats

Female rats received either testosterone or placebo injections at 3 days of age and placebo, ovariectomy plus placebo, ovariectomy plus estrogen, or ovariectomy plus testosterone treatments in adulthood. Females that received testosterone both in infancy and in adulthood exhibited the inferior avoidance performance typical of normal males; the other seven groups behaved like untreated females. Testosterone appears to organize neural mechanisms responsible for sex differences in avoidance behavior, but additional androgenic stimulation is required for the expression of masculine avoidance behavior.

A Developmental Visual Assessment for Children with Multiple Handicaps.

This paper describes the development of a visual-motor evaluation instrument, reports an interrater reliability study, and illustrates the instruments use in a preschool handicapped program. During Phase 1 an extensive literature search led to a compiled set of developmental norm data for reflexive and voluntary visual-motor development. Phase 2 included clinical use and revision of the resultant Erhardt Developmental Vision Assessment (EDVA). Phase 3 involved testing the EDVA for interrater reliability, which resulted in highly significant interrater agreement with the test author. A sample application is illustrated by segments of an EDVA used to integrate visual-motor components into an Individualized Program Plan (IPP).