Neuropsychologia
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Since Salk [Salk, L. (1960). The effects of the normal heartbeat sound on the behavior of the new-born infant: implications for mental health. World Mental Health 12, 168-175] reported a left-side preference for cradling an infant, several studies have attempted to elucidate the origin of this bias. ⋯ The most significant finding concerns the links between the preferred visual field and the preferred holding side. This effect was observed in the sample of women, in right-handers, and in the sub-group of participants with care-giving skills. These findings suggest a leading role for the right hemisphere for side of holding.
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Many lesion experiments have provided evidence that the hippocampus plays a time-limited role in memory, consistent with the operation of a systems-level memory consolidation process during which lasting neocortical memory traces become established [see Squire, L. R., Clark, R. E., & Knowlton, B. ⋯ Partially lesioned rats could be reminded of a recently learned platform location, but no recovery of remote memory was observed. These results offer no support for hippocampus-dependent consolidation of allocentric spatial information, and suggest that the hippocampus can play a long-lasting role in spatial memory. The nature of this role--in the storage, retrieval, or expression of memory--is discussed.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Event-related potentials for response inhibition in Parkinson's disease.
This study investigated inhibitory function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during a Go/NoGo task. Fourteen healthy volunteers and 13 patients with PD without dementia performed a cued continuous performance test that included Go and NoGo trials. The peak latency, amplitude, and topographic distributions of the ERPs to Go and NoGo stimuli were analyzed. ⋯ The NoGo-P3 amplitude was significantly correlated with the WCST and VFT scores, as well as with the number of commission errors. There were no significant correlations between the cognitive function tests and either the Go-P3 or NoGo-N2 measures. The behavioral and ERP data suggest that there is selective impairment of inhibitory function in PD and that this deficit may be related to impaired inhibitory executive function in the frontal lobe.
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In a previous study [Memory Cognit., in press], we demonstrated that some semantic concepts are more likely than others to be associated with specific personal memories, and that this autobiographical significance gives these concepts special status in long-term memory. In this paper, we explore the possible neural correlates of autobiographically significant semantic knowledge and examine whether or not autobiographical significance is a factor in determining patterns of semantic memory loss caused by brain damage. Using famous names that were rated on various attributes, including autobiographical significance, by control participants in a norming study [Memory Cognit., in press], we found that semantic dementia (SD) patients were more likely to recognize, identify and remember autobiographically significant episodes involving famous names that were rated high in autobiographical significance as compared to equally familiar names that were rated low. ⋯ Furthermore, in tests of free recall, recognition, fame judgment and speeded reading, semantic dementia patients demonstrated a performance advantage for autobiographically significant famous names, whereas the other patient groups did not. These findings suggest a critical role for medial temporal regions in the mediation of autobiographical memory and the interaction between personal experience and semantic memory. Theoretical implications are discussed.