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Biomedical subjects

J Silverman

Publications and source records attributed to J Silverman.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Sensitivity to musical denotation and connotation in organic patients.

Musical segments convey at least two kinds of meaning: The "real-world" events referred to by lyrics and by occasions of performance constitute musical denotation: the formal expressive patterns suggested by such constituents as pitch, timbre, and intensity constitute musical connotation. To ascertain sensitivity to these musical facets among brain-injured patients, tests assessing appreciation of musical denotation and connotation were administered to unilaterally brain-injured subjects in the United States and Italy. On the musical denotation test, right hemisphere patients excelled on items where knowledge of lyrics was required; in contrast, anterior aphasics surpassed both posterior aphasics and right hemisphere patients on items where acquaintance with lyrics was unnecessary. On the musical connotation test, right hemisphere patients performed relatively better in matching sound patterns to temporally-sequenced designs than to gestalten; these patients also performed better than left hemisphere patients on a number of other dimensions. The relatively high performance of posterior aphasics on the connotation test, along with the lack of correlation between connotative and denotative scores received by aphasic patients, suggest a behavioral and neurological dissociation between the two forms of musical sensitivity.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1976

Intraductal "noninfiltrating" carcinoma of the breast.

We are reviewing 40 patients with noninvasive intraductal carcients; 10% developed oppostie breast cancer of the invasive variety. Twenty-one patients underwent radical mastectomy in which one patient was found to have a positive axillary node. The 19 remaining patients had total mastectomy alone. No recurrence of death attributed to intraductal carcinoma was found in 39 patients available for follow-up.

Adenofibroma↗
PubMed1975

Comprehension and appreciation of humorous material following brain damage.

The effects of brain damage on cognitive and affective status have been assessed separately; however, a dearth of information exists about the interaction of these facets in the brain-damaged patient. Because appreciation of humour involves both cognitive and affective dimensions, an investigation of response to humorous materials should yield information relevant to this issue. In addition, a study of response to humour in aphasic patients can reveal the extent to which appreciation of humour is dependent upon an intact language system. Accordingly a test of humour, in which an individual chose the "funniest" of four cartoons, was administered to a population of brain-damaged and control patients. Ability to detect the most humorous cartoon was impaired in all brain-damaged patients, more in severe than in mild aphasics, but there was no significant difference between patients with left and right hemisphere lesions in their overall performance on the test. A different order of difficulty across items, and a different profile of "mirth" responses to the items did, however, correlate with site of lesion. Right hemisphere patients tended either to laugh throughout or, more frequently, not at all; they often confabulated answers to made impossible inferences; and they performed better on items with captions. Their cognitive reactions appeared "dissociated" from their affective responses. In contrast left hemisphere patients performed better on the captionless items and behaved in a manner which more closely approximated normal subjects in their humorous reactions, their order of item difficulty, and their explanations. All brain-damaged patients found it relatively easier to locate the humorous cartoons when the members of a set differed appreciably from one another. These results provide information about the altered cognitive and affective states of brain-damaged patients, the impairment of cognitive operations in aphasic patients, and the respective "life-spaces" of left and right hemisphere injured patients.

Affect↗
PubMed1975

The women's liberation movement: its impact on marriage.

The author discusses marriages in which a basically insecure husband plays a god-like role and his wife, who initially worshipped him, matures and finds her situation depressing and degrading. With support from the women's liberation movement, many women have found the courage and conviction to challenge such situations. The challenges often bring the husbands' repressed feelings of inadequacy to the surface, which leads to increased turmoil and finally to requests for professional help, first by the wife and later by her husband. During counseling both become more open and develop as individuals. As a result their marriage improves.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1971

Phenothiazine effects on auditory signal detection in paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

The differential effects of phenothiazine medication on auditory signal detection performance were compared in two types of schizophrenic subjects and in normal subjects. With increasing phenothiazine dosage a decrease in efficiency of signal detection performance occurred among nonparanoid schizophrenics and an increase in efficiency occurred among paranoid schizophrenics. These and related findings were interpreted in terms of differences in neuropsychological response and information processing characteristics in the two types of schizophrenics. The primary deficit in information processing in nonparanoid schizophrenics may be related primarily to their hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, whereas in paranoids it may be related primarily to their impaired focusing of attention. Phenothiazines appear to decrease sensitivity to stimuli in nonparanoids but increase the ability to focus attention in paranoids. The possibility of treatment regimens which take into account the differential effects of phenothiazine medication was suggested.

Adult↗