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Biomedical subjects

N Newcombe

Publications and source records attributed to N Newcombe.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Remembering versus knowing the past: children's explicit and implicit memories for pictures.

Two studies are reported examining children's explicit and implicit memory for pictures, using measures of recognition memory and perceptual facilitation. In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds showed significant implicit memory, as assessed by perceptual facilitation in identifying blurred pictures after a 3-month delay, even though they showed no explicit memory for the pictures, as assessed by recognition. This was true even though initial exposure to the pictures had been only in clear focus. The finding was replicated in Experiment 2, which also included 5-year-olds and adults. Recognition memory and perceptual facilitation were related for adults, but not for children at either age. The data suggest that age-related improvements in explicit memory could be due, at least in part, to the realization that perceptual fluency can be an indicator of prior experience.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Cellular uptake and release of the immunomodulating fungal toxin gliotoxin.

Uptake of the immunomodulating agent gliotoxin into a panel of cells using biosynthetically radiolabelled 35S toxin showed rapid association of the toxin with all cell types studied with 70-85% of the total counts in the media becoming cell associated. A difference in kinetics was observed for cell lines when compared to the primary cells thymocytes, activated T-cells and macrophages. In the latter uptake was maximal after 10-15 min and radiolabel was lost from the cells as early as 100 min. In the cell lines studied, uptake was complete in less than 1 min with no loss of label after 100 min. The exception to this was a Wilms tumour line. Analysis of the fate of gliotoxin taken up into sensitive (activated T-cells) and resistant (human fibroblast) cells by HPLC showed: (a) up to 30% of the original gliotoxin taken up by sensitive cells was released as free gliotoxin over a 22 hr period. The remainder was metabolized to inorganic sulphate; (b) in T-cells gliotoxin is reduced to the dithiol form in significant amounts and this reduction may be modulated by glutathione; and (c) no reduced gliotoxin could be detected in the resistant fibroblast cell line 27Sk even though up to 50% of the original gliotoxin was still present in the free form in these cells at 22 hr. Gliotoxin became covalently associated with macromolecules in both cell types studied. Very little free gliotoxin is released into extracellular medium by the fibroblast cell line. Gliotoxin at 500 nM was found to induce apoptosis or programmed cell death in the Wilms tumour cell line but not in any other cell line studied, and this may account for the different kinetics of release of the toxin from the Wilms tumour cell line.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

A longitudinal study of predictors of spatial ability in adolescent females.

This study examined the longitudinal predictability of spatial ability in late-adolescent females by retesting 11-year-old girls studied by Newcombe and Bandura at age 16. Spatial ability at age 16 was predicted longitudinally from masculinity of the ideal self on a scale of intellectually relevant attributes at age 11, wanting to be a boy at age 11, and, negatively, by feminine expressivity at age 11. No timing of puberty or lateralization effects were observed. The findings strengthen evidence that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be experientially determined, and help to focus the search for exactly how this occurs. The findings also cast doubt on the idea that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be caused by sex differences in timing of puberty or lateralization, although other biological mechanisms remain plausible.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Relational aspects of identity: late adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with parents.

This study examines the relationship between late adolescents' identity status and their memories of their relationships to their parents. One hundred male and female undergraduates completed two questionnaires. The first assessed subjects' retrospective perceptions of their affective relationships with parents across five age periods: 1 to 5 years, 5 to 10 years, 10 to 15 years, 15 to 20 years, and the present. The second questionnaire, the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, assessed subjects' current identity status. Trend analyses revealed: (1) a significant quadratic trend in identity committed subjects' ratings of the amount of love they felt for mother across the five age periods, and (2) a significant linear trend of increasing love from mother. In contrast, uncommitted subjects showed significant linear trends of decreasing love both for and from their mothers. Results are interpreted as evidence of the importance of resolution of identity issues to the establishment of feelings of intimacy between late adolescents and their parents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Associations of timing of puberty, spatial ability, and lateralization in adult women.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether timing of puberty is related to spatial ability in adult women, and whether, if so, the relation could be attributed to timing-related differences in hemispheric specialization and/or timing-related differences in personality and spatial activity. 53 female undergraduates were given 2 tests of spatial ability, tests of both right-hemispheric and left-hemispheric specialization using tachistoscopic procedures, several tests assessing masculinity and femininity, and a questionnaire on spatial activity. They were also asked to recall their age at menarche. Later age at menarche was associated with greater right-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task but not with higher spatial ability. Spatial ability in this sample was in fact correlated with greater left-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task, as well as with more balanced hemispheric specialization on the syllable task. It is suggested that variability in findings regarding cognitive correlates of timing of puberty may be related to variability in strategies for approaching tasks. The implications of these data for efforts to explain sex-related differences in spatial ability are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Sex role and spatial ability: an EEG study.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sex role and spatial ability using both performance and electrocortical (EEG) measures. Two hundred and fifty four subjects were given the Differential Aptitudes Space Relations Test and a short form of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) which gives an indication of sex role. From this initial group, 40 males and females were chosen based on sex role scores. These subjects were asked to solve additional visuo-spatial problems. Bilateral EEG measures were taken from the frontal and parietal areas. The results indicate that frontal EEG measures are related to the sex role orientation of the subjects whereas parietal EEG measures are associated with performance on the visuo-spatial task for males but not females. These results suggest that frontal and parietal EEG measures reflect different processes. Counter to the traditional hypothesis, performance on the visuo-spatial task was negatively related to masculine sex-role orientation suggesting that factors which influence spatial processing go beyond biological sex.

Brain↗
PubMed1982

Britain between the wars: the historical context of Bowlby's theory of attachment.

As developmental psychology "comes of age," there is increasing interest in tracing the history of thought and research concerning children (Lomax, Kagan, and Rosenkrantz 1978; Sears 1975; Senn 1975). Such an enterprise offers the possibility of providing not only a descriptive chronicle of personal or anecdotal interest, but a basis for insights into how our ideas have been shaped by the cultural context in which they were developed. It is, for instance, by now commonplace to note that much of Freud's thought should be seen in the context of 19th-century Vienna, and that many of his perceptions may have been correct for the individuals he observed although they may fail as immutable observations of human behavior in general (see, e.g., Mitchell 1974). The present paper explores the cultural and historical context of another major theorist of child development, John Bowlby. The early origins of Bowlby's theory are sought in events set in train in Britain by the First World War, and occurring during the interwar period. This may surprise readers who think of Bowlby's work as beginning with the WHO Report (Bowlby 1951) and consequently as related to the Second World War, to observations by Burlingham and Freud (1942, 1944) of children separated from their families, and to Spitz's (Spitz and Wolf 1946) work on infants in foundling homes and orphanages. But formulations in the WHO report clearly appear in Bowlby's work before World War II and are also evident in the writings of Klein (1935, 1940) and Suttie (1935), who were working on themes first drawn into focus during the first World War. In a personal interview, Bowlby identified 1929 as the time when he was first struck by the importance of separation in children's lives. Thus, this paper focuses on the effect of the "Great War" on psychoanalytic thought and, more generally, on psychiatry in Britain.

Adult↗