Sol Kugelmass

Cross-cultural and developmental trends in graphic productions ☆

Abstract How does space come to be used to represent nonspatial relations, as in graphs? Approximately 1200 children and adults from three language cultures, English, Hebrew, and Arabic, produced graphic representations of spatial, temporal, quantitative, and preference relations. Children placed stickers on square pieces of paper to represent, for example, a disliked food, a liked food, and a favorite food. Two major analyses of these data were performed. The analysis of directionality of the represented relation showed effects of direction of written language only for representations of temporal concepts, where left-to-right was dominant for speakers of English and right-to-left for speakers of Arabic, with Hebrew speakers in between. For quantity and preference, all canonical directions except top-to-bottom were used approximately equally by all cultures and ages. The analysis of information represented in the graphic representations showed an age trend; more of the older children represented ordinal and some interval information in their mappings. There was a small effect of abstractness of concept on information represented, with more interval information represented by children for the more concrete concepts, space, time, quantity, and preference in that order. Directionality findings were related to language-specific left-to-right or right-to-left directionality and to universal association of more or better with upward. The difficulties in externally representing interval information were related to prevalent difficulties in expressing comparative information. Childrens graphic productions were compared to other invented notation systems, by children and by cultures, particularly for numbers and language.

Cognitive functioning in post-traumatic stress disorder

Twelve Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients, 12 psychiatric patients matched for severity of psychopathology, and 12 normal controls were assessed for cognitive functioning by means of a comprehensive test battery. Both patient groups felt subjectively more impaired than normals. Performance on measures of intelligence, organicity, verbal fluency, memory, and attention was significantly poorer in patients than in normals. The performance of the PTSD patients and that of the psychiatric controls was, however, very similar. The premorbid intelligence of both the PTSD patients and the psychiatric controls was average and had deteriorated significantly by the time of current testing. These cognitive problems were not secondary to alcohol, drug abuse, or head injury. The results suggest a cognitive impairment in post-traumatic patients.

Early and long-term effects of electroconvulsive therapy and depression on memory and other cognitive functions

Twenty-seven medication-free, depressed patients (Research Diagnostic Criteria, endogenous subtype) were administered a comprehensive battery testing memory and other cognitive functions before and after a series of bilateral, brief-pulse electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) administered according to a dosage-titration procedure (8.9 \Pm 1.981 treatments). A subset of patients (N = 14) were reexamined at 1 month and 6 months after the conclusion of the treatment. Anterograde (verbal and visuospatial tasks), as well as retrograde (famous and personal events), memory function was significantly impaired at the end of the ECT series. By 1 month follow-up, performance had improved to pre-ECT (depression) levels on both anterograde and retrograde tasks and exceeded these by 6 months. The memory deficits induced by ECT were not a consequence of generalized cognitive impairment. Furthermore, depression and ECT were shown to independently affect memory, and recovery from depression was not a consequence of the amnestic action of the treatment. The results generally confirm previous reports regarding the nature of ECT-induced memory impairment, in a different language and culture. They suggest that long-term effects of the treatment on memory are even less prominent than previously observed.

Performance of chronic schizophrenics on matched word and design recall tasks.

Matched word and design recall tasks were constructed and used to assess the performance of chronic schizophrenics on neuroleptics alone and on both neuroleptic and anticholinergic drugs. The two groups of patients performed at an equally low level on both tasks, without evidence for a differential deficit. The tasks did, however, evoke a differential deficit in clustering performance for designs as opposed to words. Although clustering, which is based on recall, is not necessarily as well matched for words and designs as recall itself, this result suggests a lateralized dysfunction in brain structures related to use of mnemonic organization at retrieval.

MOLECULAR GENETICS OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGIES : A SEARCH FOR SIMPLE ANSWERS TO COMPLEX PROBLEMS

Molecular genetics is helping define the contribution of genetic involvement in behavioral disorders. At this time, however, a severely limiting factor for DNA linkage studies of these disorders remains the definition of the phenotype. An example of this is found in the group of studies examining linkage of schizophrenia to the 5q location. Although various broad clinical interpretations of the schizophrenia phenotype were used to test for linkage, all but one study reported findings negative for linkage of schizophrenia to the 5q area. We offer a strategy based on family studies using segregation data of behavioral subtypes. We apply this strategy using molecular genetic technology to our study of psychopathology in patients. This approach offers the possibility of a clearer definition of the phenotype and is suggested for use in both linkage and association studies of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Developmental Trends in Directionality of Drawing in Jewish and Arab Israeli Children

Jewish and Arab Israeli children (n = 484), attending pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, were required to copy a vertical and a horizontal line. Partial samples were also tested using the WPPSI. It was found that Jewish and Arab children were similar in their preference for top-bottom directionality, but in copying the horizontal line Jewish children used mostly a left-right and Arab children used mostly a right-left stroke. Correlations with the WPPSI indicated that starting from the right was correlated with higher intelligence for Arabs and with lower intelligence for Jews. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of the writing requirements of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.

Performance of long-stay schizophrenics on matched verbal and visuospatial recall tasks

A verbal and a visuospatial recall task were compared for discriminating power, using the matched-tasks methodology. These tasks were administered to long-hospitalized schizophrenics. No evidence of a differential deficit, that is, better recall of either the verbal or the visuospatial materials, emerged in the patients. The results replicate a former finding showing no difference between verbal and visuospatial recall in schizophrenics, using memory tasks which were less sensitive as left- and right-hemisphere measures and a non-verbal task less affected by verbal mediation. This replication questions the assumption that the hemispheric differences observed in schizophrenics affect such memory tasks.

Perceptual Exploration in Israeli Jewish and Bedouin Children

A sample of 104 Israeli Bedouin children were tested in an attempt to clarify further the factors influencing developmental trends in visual perceptual exploration. In addition to a further demonstration of the influence of the specific characteristics of the language of school instruction, the findings suggest the importance of extra-school reading opportunities. A discrepancy between two indices of perceptual exploration was related to different aspects of reading development. While the Bedouin childrens perceptual exploration might be considered less mature in some ways related to reading, this was not the case with other aspects of perceptual exploration.

Representation of depth by children: Spatial strategies and lateral biases.

Preschool and elementary-school children from the United States and Israel represented depth relations in pictures. A lateral bias to place near objects on the left side appeared in English and Hebrew readers of all ages and in older Arabic readers; this bias is consistent with left-right asymmetries observed in Western art. The overall directionality of notational systems was seen as constraining, but not causing, the left bias. In all cultural groups, young children represented near-far by horizontal alignments and older children, by diagonal alignments, with virtually no vertical alignments. Front-behind representations followed a different developmental course that was interpreted as due to efforts to convey nearness between the items separated in depth

The Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Style of Life on Cognitive Development of Israeli Bedouin Children

The effect of two social variables thought to be relevant to cognitive development was studied in a tribe of Israeli Bedouin undergoing acculturation. Proceeding from Berrys ecocultural theory, two social variables were derived from anthropological observations: socioeconomic status (SES) and style of life (SOL). Data were collected on 161 children using tests of Piagets spatial concepts and conservation operations. The results substantiated the influence of SES but provided no evidence of any systematic effect of SOL on the cognitive development of Bedouin children. Consideration of the results of both the volume conservation test and the horizontality spatial test raised doubts about their appropriateness to the actual demands of the cross-cultural research.