[Differences in the effect of diazepam on realized and non-realized conditioned emotional reactions]. / Razlichie v deistvii diazepama na osoznavaemye i neosoznavaemye uslovnye émotsional'nye reaktsii.

Evoked cortical potentials in response to conditioned visual stimuli were recorded in excitable psychopathic personalities in the course of formation and reproduction of temporary relations with a realized or non-realized emotional word. Diazepam (10 mg intramuscularly) suppresses cortical reaction worked out previously with the aid of a realized emotional word and fails to produce and action if that word was non-realized. The fact of the lack of the diazepam effect on conditioned emotional reactions formed at the non-realized level should be taken into consideration in the treatment of patients with disturbances in the emotional sphere.

[Effect of diazepam on the formation of temporal connections by means of recognizable visual stimuli]. / Vliianie diazepama na obrazovanie vremennykh sviazei s pomoshch'iu osoznavaemykh zritel'nykh razdrazhitelei.

In emotionally labile persons the role of the limbic link in the structure of temporary connections formed by means of a realized emotionally significant word, was studied with the help of diazepam. The diazepam turned out to be an effective agent for studying the mechanisms underlying the formation and reproduction of temporary connections in man. Against the background of its action it is not possible to elaborate a conditioned cortical reaction on emotionally significant reinforcement. This is connected by the authors with predominant action of this tranquilizer on formations of the limbic system.

[Neurologic mechanism of the unconscious craving for alcohol in chronic alcoholic patients]. / O nervnom mekhanizme neosoznavaemogo vlecheniia k alkogoliu u bol'nykh khronicheskim alkogolizmom.

The author studied cortical mechanisms of the perception of subconscious motivationally meaningful word "vodka" in patients with chronic alcoholism. Clear-cut diffuse activation of the cerebral cortex in response to a subconscious verbal stimulus was identified through recording evoked cortical potentials which are a sensitive indicator of reactivity of the cerebral structures to alcohol. The elucidated cortical activation may be one of the nervous mechanisms of stable craving for alcohol which is poorly controlled by the patient's conscious experience.

[Effect of negative emotions on various links in visual-motor integration in man]. / Vliianie otritsatel'nykh émotsii na raznye zven'ia zritel'no-motornoi integratsii u cheloveka.

The influence of emotional stress was studied on different links of the structure-functional system providing perception of a stimulus and choice of an adequate to signals voluntary motor reaction. Presentation of emotionally meaningful words was shown to change significantly and nonequivalently the process of stimulus recognition and the value of reaction time. The changes were more brief in persons with inborn emotional lability and significantly longer in those after the brain injury. It was shown that emotional factors might significantly change (delay) the process of decision making.

[Elaboration of a conditioned reflex in chronic alcoholics using an unrecognizable motivationally significant word]. / Vyrabotka uslovnoi sviazi u bol'nykh khronicheskim alkogolizmom s pomoshch'iu neosoznavaemogo motivatsionno-znachimogo slova.

20 patients suffering from chronic alcoholism and 10 healthy, righthanded persons with normal sight were examined. Alcoholics were trained to elaborate a temporary connection by means of unrecognized significant word "vodka" related to their dominant motivation. The amplitude of the late positive response P300 was greater and its latency was shorter comparing with responses to neutral words. The latency of P300 potential to a conditioned stimulus combined with the word "vodka" is reduced in all recorded areas, especially in the left occipital zone. Healthy persons did not manifest this facilitation. The amplitude of the potential considerably decreased in all recorded areas (occipital, parieto-temporo-occipital and central) especially in the left hemisphere. Conditioned changes of the P300 wave during conditioning by means of the unrecognized stimulus are stable and do not extinct despite multiple signal presentations without pairing with the significant word. The formation of conditioned connections by means of unrecognized stimulus in patients suffering from chronic alcoholism suggests that a certain role in psychical dependence upon alcohol may be played by unrecognized stimuli.

[Effect of alcohol on interhemispheric functional relations]. / Vliianie alkogolia na mezhpolusharnye funktsional 'nye otnosheniia.

By means of backward masking, the time of perception of letter stimuli presented to the left and right visual fields, was determined in practically healthy persons who were given different doses of alcohol, and in patients with chronic alcoholism. Evoked electrical activity to the same stimuli was recorded in identical conditions. A small dose of alcohol (0.41 g/kg) increases in healthy subjects the time of perception of visual signals only if they are presented in the left visual field: a medium dose (0.82 g/kg) increases the time of stimuli perception in both halves of the visual field, but obviously more so in the left one, in patients with chronic alcoholism the time of perception is substantially longer in the left visual field. A small dose of alcohol does not affect evoked electrical cortical activity in healthy persons. Distinct regional differences are exhibited in the action of the medium dose of alcohol on the cerebral cortex of healthy persons. Evoked potential in the central area is depressed to a greater extent than in the visual and associative (Brodman field 37) zones. With chronic alcohol intoxication, evoked activity in the right hemisphere is depressed considerably more than in the left one.

[Interhemispheric functional relationships in chronic alcoholism]. / Mezhpolusharnye funktsional'nye otnosheniia u bol'nykh khronicheskim alkogolizmom.

The authors examined the functional interhemispheric relations in chronic alcoholics by registering evoked potentials. It was found that in those subjects the information processing was considerably delayed in both hemispheres, however, this delay was more marked in the right hemisphere. In this hemisphere also the magnitude of the evoked response was lowered, this lowering being statistically significant. On the basis of the prolongation of the latent period and the diminution of the amplitude of the P300 wave in the right hemisphere the authors conclude that in chronic alcoholics the interhemispheric relations are changed due to an impairment of the right hemisphere functioning.

[Interhemispheric relations in the process of visual perception in schizophrenic patients]. / Mezhpolusharnye otnosheniia v protsesse zritel'nogo vospriiatiia u bol'nykh shizofreniei.

The purpose of the performed study was to compare the time of visual stimuli perception for different hemispheres in normals and in schizophrenic patients. In normals there was a certain asymmetry in the speed of perception of letter stimuli between the right and left hemispheres. It was established, that in the right hemisphere there was a more rapid perception of the letters as compared to the left one. In schizophrenic patients there is no interhemispheric differences in the time of perception, owing to the fact that the right hemisphere loses the advantage in speed of processing visual information. The author makes an assumption of the possible role of disturbed activity of the right hemisphere in the psychopathological symptomatology.

[Asymmetry of visual perception]. / Asimmetriia zritel'nogo vospriiatiia.

In healthy adult subjects recognition was studied of geometrical figures presented unilaterally, and of separate letters presented unilaterally and dichoptically to the right and left visual fields. At near-threshold exposition, separate letters are better recognized in the right visual field, than in the left one, regardless of the method of presentation. There is no asymmetry in recognition of geometrical figures. In conditions of backward masking asymmetry of perception of separate letters is likewise observed, but they are better recognized in the left visual field. This suggests that the perception time of separate letters is shorter when they are addressed "directly" to the right hemisphere.