Both attentional bias (using the modified Stroop Task) and autonomic reactivity (skin conductance level) to food- and body-related information were assessed in 25 patients with eating disorders (15 patients with anorexia, 10 patients with bulimia) and 18 women controls. Patients with anorexia showed the greatest interference in color-naming food-related words. However, on this occasion there were no differences in body condition, probably because of heterogeneity of clinical samples and because the control group were staff members, so the target information was very familiar to them. The groups differed in their autonomic reactivity while performing the Stroop, the patients with anorexia responded with higher skin conductance (p < .036). The discussion focuses on the differential profiles shown by samples and on the relationship between cognitive biases and autonomic arousal reactivity.

Albinism alters the neural projections of the visual system. The authors wondered how this would affect visual function in rodents. They had previously shown that it doesn't alter the luminance threshold. They now explore visual acuity in the albino rat. In this work, they describe its contrast sensitivity function (CSF), as determined electro-physiologically. They recorded cortical visual evoked potentials (VEP) on six albino rats, stimulated by sinusoidal contrast reversal gratings. The curve showed the same characteristics that this function has in other mammals. Compared with the pigmented rat, the albino reached lower sensitivity values and showed a loss of sensitivity at high spatial frequencies. The estimated cut-off was 0.48 c/°, that is, 0.72 log units below the estimated cut-off for the pigmented rat under similar experimental conditions. VEP and behavioral cut-off were very close, the VEP estimation being slightly higher than the behavioral one.

In this case study of an aphasic patient with difficulties in numerical processing, the patient responded to a series of linguistic and numerical tasks designed to assess efficiency levels in processing various linguistic components. In addition, the patient completed a series of transcoding tasks that were directed at isolating whether the problems were associated primarily with arabic numerals or with other modalities (spoken or written). Data were analyzed using chi-square goodness-of-fit tests. Statistically significant differences were obtained between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs and between arabic and spoken verbal outputs. Based upon an analysis of errors, it was tentatively concluded that the disorders were associated with two types of dissociation operating together, one between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs at the syntactical level and the other between lexical and syntactical components in the spoken verbal output. A revised model is proposed to provide a tentative explanation for these observations.

This study examined the role of sex and intelligence in the relationship between field dependence-independence and second language acquisition for a sample of 383 students (187 girls and 196 boys) aged between 13 and 16. The Portable Rod and Frame Test (PRFT) and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) were used to evaluate cognitive style. A two-way covariance analysis, with intelligence as the covariate, was employed to investigate differences in second language achievement between students classified as either field-dependent or field-independent. A cluster analysis using z scores was examined to study the performance of subjects classified as either field-dependent or field-independent according to scores obtained on the EFT and the PRFT (“coincident” subjects) and those classified as field-dependent in one test and field-independent in the other (“non-coincident” subjects). No statistically significant differences between the two groups were obtained when cognitive style was defined by scores on the PRFT. When field dependence-independence was measured by scores on the EFT, field-independent girls performed better than field-dependent girls (p < .005), but this outcome was not observed for boys. These results suggest a differential contribution of the “perceptive” and “cognitive” components of field dependence-independence and a modulating role by sex.

Recent findings have identified an endogenous brain system mediating the actions of cannabis sativa preparations. This system includes the brain cannabinoid receptor (CB-1) and its endogenous ligands anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol. The endogenous cannabinoid system is not only present in the adult brain, but is also active at early stages of brain development. Studies developed at our laboratory have revealed that maternal exposure to psychoactive cannabinoid results in neuro-developmental alterations. A model is proposed in which early Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure during critical developmental periods results in permanent alterations in brain function by either the stimulation of CB-1 receptors present during the development, or by the alterations in maternal glucocorticoid secretion. Those alterations will be revealed in adulthood after challenges either with drugs (i.e. opiates) or with environmental stressors (i.e. novelty). They will include a modified pattern of neuro-chemical, endocrine, and behavioral responses that might lead ultimately to inadaptation and vulnerability to opiate abuse.