Hemispheric dominance for emotions, empathy and social behaviour: evidence from right and left handers with frontotemporal dementia.

Although evidence from primates suggests an important role for the anterior temporal cortex in social behaviour, human research has to date concentrated almost solely on the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. By describing four cases of the temporal variant of frontotemporal dementia we show how this degenerative condition provides an excellent model for investigating the role of the anterior temporal lobe, especially the right, in emotions, empathy and social behaviour. Assessments of semantic memory, processing of emotional facial expression and emotional prosody were made, empathy was measured, and facial expressions of emotion were coded. Of the two right handers described, one subject with predominantly left temporal lobe atrophy had severe semantic impairment but normal performance on all emotional tasks. In contrast, the subject with right temporal lobe atrophy showed severely impaired recognition of emotion from faces and voices that was not due to semantic or perceptual difficulties. Empathy was lost, interpersonal skills were severely affected and facial expression of emotion was characterized by a fixed expression that was unresponsive to situations. Additionally, two left handers with right temporal lobe atrophy are described. One demonstrated the same pattern of hemispheric lateralization as the right handers and had emotional impairment. The other left hander showed the opposite pattern of deficits, suggesting a novel presentation of anomalous dominance with reversed hemispheric specialization of semantic memory and emotional processing.

Observations from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center in New York City, Part I.

The authors are mental health clinicians with the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA), an affiliate organization of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Beginning on September 11, 2001 we were at Ground Zero of the World Trade Center (WTC) to assist in the all phases of crisis intervention and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), as indicated. Our observations and anecdoctal reports, as we worked on teams with NYPD Peer Support Officers (PSOs), are the subject of this paper.

Brief report: effects of pediatric HIV infection on mental and psychomotor development.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of HIV status on infants' mental and psychomotor functioning, controlling for confounding factors such as prenatal drug exposure and birth conditions. METHODS: Twenty HIV-infected and 25 seroreverted infants (ages 3-30 months old) were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) and a neurological examination at two time points, 4 to 12 months apart. The majority were from ethnic minority, socioeconomically disadvantaged families; 67% of the infants were prenatally drug-exposed. RESULTS: HIV-infected infants had significantly lower scores on the BSID at baseline (mental development) and follow-up (motor development) compared to seroreverters. When HIV and neurological deficits were considered together, HIV+ children with neurological deficits scored significantly lower than HIV+ children without neurological deficits and seroreverters, with and without neurological diagnoses. Prenatal drug exposure was not associated with performance on the BSID. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that CNS involvement is a critical pathway by which HIV affects infants' neurodevelopment.

Coping with psychological aftermath of school violence: the teacher and the assaulted staff action program.

Violence in the United States has become a national public health epidemic. Increasingly, much of this violence has been committed by our young people. School settings have not been exempt from these aggressive acts, and principals, teachers, and support staff have been victims of murder, physical and sexual assaults, verbal threats, and the destruction of personal property. This present paper outlines a cost-effective, empirically-based, crisis intervention approach that was designed for health care providers, and that has immediate application to providers of school psychological services. Known as the Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP), ASAP has provided needed support to these employee victims of violence and has been associated with sharp reductions in facility violence. Since ASAP interventions are appropriate for all victims of violence, the implications of an ASAP approach for school faculty and staff victims are examined. The roles of school counselors in designing, fielding, and maintaining an ASAP program are presented.

Effects of pediatric HIV infection and prenatal drug exposure on mental and psychomotor development.

Examined the effects of HIV infection and prenatal drug exposure on infant neurodevelopmental functioning. Three groups of infants were compared: HIV-infected infants, seroreverters, and a comparison group who were prenatally exposed to drugs, but not HIV. Two thirds of the HIV-infected and seroreverter infants were prenatally drug-exposed. Infants (ages 4-30 months) were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Children who were both HIV-infected and prenatally drug exposed performed significantly lower on both the mental and psychomotor scales of the Bayley. Drug exposure and neurological dysfunction were associated with mental development, whereas neurological dysfunction, drug exposure, and HIV status were associated with psychomotor development.

Cognitive assessment of human immunodeficiency virus-exposed children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine (1) the level of impairment in cognitive and motor functioning in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-exposed and HIV-infected preschool and school-age children; (2) cognitive strengths and weaknesses that characterize HIV-infected children; and (3) potential contributions of serostatus, neurologic impairment, and prenatal drug-exposure to cognitive functioning. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, single-blind study. SETTING: Pediatric neurology clinic at a large metropolitan hospital in New York, NY. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-one HIV-infected and eight seroreverter school-age children. INTERVENTIONS: The McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities were administered to all children, as was the Neurologic Examination for Children. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS: The obtained mean of the sample on the McCarthy Scales' General Cognitive Index was in the Borderline range, with 44% of the subjects scoring in the Mentally Retarded range. The most severe cognitive deficits were found on the Quantitative, Verbal, and Memory scales (Borderline range). Children infected with HIV with neurologic impairment performed significantly worse than did seroverters and neurologically normal HIV-infected children. There were no significant differences in cognitive functioning due to gender, ethnicity, and prenatal drug exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive deficits were detected in HIV-infected and seroreverted children. The presence of neurologic dysfunction in HIV-infected children markedly intensified these deficits.

Equivalence of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised, forms L and M for children with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to assess the equivalence of Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised for a sample of 15 Hispanic and 12 black children diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The children (15 boys, 12 girls) were administered PPVT-R Forms L and M in counterbalanced order and in immediate succession. The coefficient of equivalence, r, was .77 and significant. Influential factors, such as the behavioral manifestations of AIDS, are discussed. Limitations of the study are included. Research should focus on the long- and short-term stability of the test for these children as they are evaluated repetitively.

Stability of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--revised for emotionally handicapped middle-school-age children.

In this pilot study, 20 middle-school-age children classified as emotionally handicapped were administered Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised in test-retest fashion. Pearson correlations for Form L were .90, for Form M, .69, and these dependent correlations were significantly different from each other. As triennial school psychological evaluations typically contain tests which have been administered previously, e.g., WISC-R, WRAT-R, we suggest that psychologists use caution when using Form M to test or retest the receptive vocabulary of emotionally handicapped or disturbed middle-school-age children.

Assessment of cognitive deficiency with the McCarthy Scales and Stanford-Binet: a correlational analysis.

The present study tested matched samples of 15 retarded and 15 normal children on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Pearson correlations between Stanford-Binet IQs and the six McCarthy Scale Indexes for retarded subjects were lower than coefficients obtained from the normal subjects and from previous research. While the General Cognitive Index may be interchangeable with IQ in the Normal range of intellectual functioning, this relationship was not found for the retarded subjects in the present study. The "venerable" Stanford-Binet retains its position as the most broadly applicable measure of intellectual functioning. Implications of the study as well as an outline for future research were included.