Pupillary Responses in Recognizing Awareness in Persons with Profound Mental Retardation

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Chaney ◽  
Carolyne A. Givens ◽  
Melanie F. Aoki ◽  
Michael L. Gombiner
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Laboratory Setting ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Pupil Reactivity ◽  
Familiar Person

Pupil-size changes have been shown to indicate positive or negative reactions to several sensory and psychologic stimuli in normal persons. Whether this could be extended to mentally retarded patients who lack ability for verbal or motor behavior was tested by pupillary responses to several visual, tactile, and auditory stimuli. 24 institutionalized severely and profoundly retarded patients were examined by video camera in their usual environments rather than in a controlled laboratory setting. The videotapes were later projected onto a screen for pupil-size measurements. Pupils dilated with pleasant stimuli, including visualizing a familiar person, soft touch to the arm, music, and soft compliments. There was constriction with presenting an unfamiliar person, rough grasp of the arm, and abrasive noise and harsh commands. The findings demonstrate the existence of pupil reactivity in profoundly retarded persons and suggest such testing as a means of determining which elements of their environment are pleasing or aversive to them.

scholarly journals Investigating the relationship between background luminance and self-reported valence of auditory stimuli

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Intan K. Wardhani ◽  
Britt Hendrik Janssen ◽  
C. Nico Boehler
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
The Self ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Background Luminance ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Visual Background ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
The Relationship

The present study investigates the effect of background luminance on the self-reported valence ratings of auditory stimuli, as suggested by some earlier work. A secondary aim was to better characterise the effect of auditory valence on pupillary responses, on which the literature is inconsistent. Participants were randomly presented with sounds of different valence categories (negative, neutral, and positive) obtained from the IADS-E database. At the same time, the background luminance of the computer screen (in blue hue) was manipulated across three levels (i.e., low, medium, and high), with pupillometry confirming the expected strong effect of luminance on pupil size. Participants were asked to rate the valence of the presented sound under these different luminance levels. On a behavioural level, we found trend-level evidence for a small effect of background luminance on the self-reported valence rating, with generally more positive ratings as background luminance increases. Turning to valence effects on pupil size, irrespective of background luminance, interestingly, we observed that pupils were smallest in the positive valence and the largest in negative valence condition, with neutral sounds in between. In sum, the present findings therefore provide some evidence concerning the relationship between luminance perception (and hence pupil size) and self-reported valence of auditory stimuli, indicating a possible cross-modal interaction of auditory valence processing with completely task-irrelevant visual background luminance. The present experiment furthermore contributes new data on the relationship between valence and pupil size for auditory stimuli.

scholarly journals Listener’s personality traits predict changes in pupil size during auditory language comprehension

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabell Hubert Lyall ◽  
Juhani Järvikivi
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Pupil Dilation ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Personality Profiles ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Grammatical Errors

AbstractResearch suggests that listeners’ comprehension of spoken language is concurrently affected by linguistic and non-linguistic factors, including individual difference factors. However, there is no systematic research on whether general personality traits affect language processing. We correlated 88 native English-speaking participants’ Big-5 traits with their pupillary responses to spoken sentences that included grammatical errors, "He frequently have burgers for dinner"; semantic anomalies, "Dogs sometimes chase teas"; and statements incongruent with gender stereotyped expectations, such as "I sometimes buy my bras at Hudson's Bay", spoken by a male speaker. Generalized additive mixed models showed that the listener's Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism traits modulated resource allocation to the three different types of unexpected stimuli. No personality trait affected changes in pupil size across the board: less open participants showed greater pupil dilation when processing sentences with grammatical errors; and more introverted listeners showed greater pupil dilation in response to both semantic anomalies and socio-cultural clashes. Our study is the first one demonstrating that personality traits systematically modulate listeners’ online language processing. Our results suggest that individuals with different personality profiles exhibit different patterns of the allocation of cognitive resources during real-time language comprehension.

PREVALENCE OF HOMOCYSTINURIA AMONG THE MENTALLY RETARDED: EVALUATION OF A SPECIFIC SCREENING TEST

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 586-589
Author(s):  
George Link Spaeth ◽  
G. Winston Barber
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Screening Test ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand

The prevalence of homocystinuria in patients with mental retardation institutionalized in the United States is about 0.02%; this is lower than a previous estimation from Northern Ireland (0.3%). On the other hand, about 5% of patients with dislocated lenses may be expected to have the disease. A silver-nitroprusside test which is almost completely specific for homocystine has been evaluated. It should be useful for screening.

MENTAL RETARDATION IN A FAMILY WITH PHENYLKETONURIA AND MILD HYPERPH ENYLALANINEMIA

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 655-660
Author(s):  
Bernard E. Cohen ◽  
Arieh Szeinberg ◽  
Wifred Berman ◽  
Yermiahu Aviad ◽  
Moshe Crispin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Biochemical Abnormality ◽  
Maternal Uncle ◽  
The Family ◽  
Phenylalanine Metabolism ◽  
Inbred Family

A highly inbred family with five mentally retarded persons is described. Two sibs presented typical characteristics of phenylketonuria, while one mentally retarded sib did not show any biochemical abnormality. The mother and maternal uncle had mild hyperphenylalaninemia. It is pointed out in the discussion that, while the mental retardation (at least in some of these subjects) may be independent of disturbances of phenylalanine metabolism, it is possible also to explain all the findings in the family on a unified basis, involving a variant hyperphenylalaninemia with tolerance increasing with age and "maternal phenylketonuia."

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC AND ETIOLOGIC FINDINGS IN MENTAL RETARDATION

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 478-485
Author(s):  
Gerald D. LaVeck ◽  
Felix de la Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Metabolic Disorders ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Motor Dysfunction ◽  
Diagnostic Aid ◽  
Mentally Retarded Children ◽  
Mental Subnormality ◽  
Etiologic Diagnosis

A series of 578 institutionalized mentally retarded patients was evaluated by a multi-discipline approach in order to establish a presumptive etiologic diagnosis. Abnormal electroencephalographic findings were found to be related to the age of the patient, the severity of retardation, and the presence of seizures or motor dysfunction. In this series 65.9% had abnormal tracings, and the most frequent abnormality was a focal change in 18.7%. However, focal abnormalities correlated with seizures and motor dysfunction so that no specific electroencephalographic aberration was characteristic of mental subnormality. Abnormal tracings were most frequent in nonseizure patients when subnormality was caused by intoxication, new growths, metabolic disorders, infectious processes, trauma, and encephalopathy of unknown cause in decreasing order of frequency. Abnormalities were seen in 36.4% of "cultural-familial" defectives and those whose intellectual defect was presumably due to psychologic factors. It is believed that electroencephalography is a valuable diagnostic aid in the evaluation of mentally retarded children.

CORRECTION

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 798-798
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Hand Column ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right ◽  
Medicine Education

In the January 1972 issue in Dr. Paul H. Pearson's review of the book Mental Retardation and Its Social Dimensions by Margaret Adams, the fifth paragraph of the right hand column on page 161 should read as follows: "In all fairness, Miss Adanis goes on to point up the essential need of a multidisciplinary approach to the multivariant needs of the retarded. She points out the ways in which the efforts of the social work profession are integrated with those of medicine, education and psychology to bring about, through preventive and habilitative measures, optimal social functioning of the mentally retarded within our society."

Practices and Problems in Educating Deaf Retarded Children in Residential Schools

1969 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 687-694
Author(s):  
Robert M. Anderson ◽  
Godfrey D. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Schools For The Deaf

Information including epidemiological data from 6 residential schools for the deaf was collected. It included data relative to prevalence, classification, and nomenclature; numbers and kinds of disabilities in addition to deafness and mental retardation; and estimations of projected grade level expectancy for mentally retarded deaf children. A total of 304 (19 percent of the pupil population) pupils with an IQ of below 83 were enrolled in these schools; 132 of these children were classified as mentally retarded. Seventy-three children were reported to have one or more disabilities in addition to deafness and mental retardation. A mean grade level expectancy of 4.3 was predicted for 117 of the children.

scholarly journals Is Pupil Activity Associated With the Strength of Memory Signal for Words in a Continuous Recognition Memory Paradigm?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Oliveira ◽  
Marta Fernandes ◽  
Pedro J. Rosa ◽  
Pedro Gamito
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Consistent Finding ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Study Test

Research on pupillometry provides an increasing evidence for associations between pupil activity and memory processing. The most consistent finding is related to an increase in pupil size for old items compared with novel items, suggesting that pupil activity is associated with the strength of memory signal. However, the time course of these changes is not completely known, specifically, when items are presented in a running recognition task maximizing interference by requiring the recognition of the most recent items from a sequence of old/new items. The sample comprised 42 healthy participants who performed a visual word recognition task under varying conditions of retention interval. Recognition responses were evaluated using behavioral variables for discrimination accuracy, reaction time, and confidence in recognition decisions. Pupil activity was recorded continuously during the entire experiment. The results suggest a decrease in recognition performance with increasing study-test retention interval. Pupil size decreased across retention intervals, while pupil old/new effects were found only for words recognized at the shortest retention interval. Pupillary responses consisted of a pronounced early pupil constriction at retrieval under longer study-test lags corresponding to weaker memory signals. However, the pupil size was also sensitive to the subjective feeling of familiarity as shown by pupil dilation to false alarms (new items judged as old). These results suggest that the pupil size is related not only to the strength of memory signal but also to subjective familiarity decisions in a continuous recognition memory paradigm.

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