Lateralized anterior and posterior lesions and performance on Digit Span and Russell's revision of the Wechsler Memory Scale.

Performance on the Russell (1975) revision of the Wechsler Memory Scale and the Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale by subjects with lateralized anterior and posterior lesions was investigated. Ss were right-handed men whose brain lesions were identified on the basis of neurodiagnostic tests as being lateralized to either the left or right hemisphere and restricted to either the anterior or posterior side of the central sulcus. A normal comparison group was formed of Ss suspected of having neurological damage and referred for neuropsychological testing but who had normal neurodiagnostic examinations. It was predicted that both the laterality and caudality of lesions would affect memory task performance. This prediction was fully supported for the logical memory task and partially supported for the figural memory and digit span tasks.

Sugar consumption, locomotion, task orientation, and learning in preschool children.

A challenge design was employed to investigate the effect of sucrose consumption on the behavior of 12 preschool children. On separate experimental days, subjects were tested individually with either a challenge sucrose drink (2 gm/kg body weight) or a placebo drink sweetened with aspartame. Fifteen-minute observations of each child during free play were made at 15, 45, and 75 minutes after ingestion of the drink. Assessment with a paired-associate learning task was made before ingestion and at 30, 60, and 90 minutes after ingestion. This study was a partial replication and extension of one of the few studies in the literature that has found an effect of sucrose on the behavior of normal children. On all dependent measures (locomotion, task orientation, and learning), the study failed to obtain significant differences between the two conditions.

The effects of cigarette smoking on human sexual potency.

Forty-two male cigarette smokers, age 18 to 44, were randomly assigned to high-nicotine, low-nicotine, or control groups in a study relating cigarette smoking to sexual response. Subjects watched erotic film segments while their penile diameters, heart rates, and finger pulse amplitudes were continuously recorded by a polygraph. Subjects in the smoking groups smoked relatively high-nicotine (.9 mg) or very low-nicotine (.002 mg) cigarettes prior to watching the last two films, while control subjects ate candy. Smoking two high-nicotine cigarettes in immediate succession significantly decreased the rate of penile diameter change relative to the other conditions. These effects were not seen after a single cigarette was smoked. High-nicotine cigarettes caused significantly more vasoconstriction and heart rate increase than did low-nicotine cigarettes, which did not differ from control conditions.

Effects of sweetness perception and caloric value of a preload on short term intake.

To determine the effects of calories and sweetness perception on intake, fasted normal weight subjects drank a preload sweetened with sucrose (1.1 g/kg) or L-asparthyl-L-phenylalanyl-methyl ester (Aspartame, 0.011 g/kg), or with no added sweetener. Sweetness perception of the load was reduced in half of the subjects by oral application of Gymnema sylvestre extracts. One hour after the preload, a meal of snack foods was presented and amounts of nutrients eaten were calculated. Subjects whose perception of sweetness had been decreased for the preload ate less total and sweet calories than did those with normal perception. Calories did not affect intake. The effect of calories and perception of the load was also assessed on variables presumed to correlate with satiety. Sucrose pleasantness ratings were not related to calories, perception or intake. Subjects' estimates of the amount of milkshake that they would drink if given the opportunity to do so and hunger ratings were related to overall intake and carbohydrate intake, respectively. The findings indicate that hedonistic aspects of taste are of greater importance than calories in determining short term intake.