Right unilateral spatial neglect in aphasic patients.

To investigate spatial responses by aphasic patients during language tasks, 63 aphasics (21 severe, 21 moderate, and 21 mild) were administered two kinds of auditory pointing tasks-word tasks and sentence tasks-in which the spatial conditions of the stimuli were controlled. There were significantly fewer correct responses on the right side of a space than on the left side in both the word and sentence tasks, but the left deviation of correct responses was more prominent in the sentence task than in the word task. Additionally, the severe aphasics exhibited a prominent leftward deviation that may have been the result of deficits in rightward attention controlled by the left hemisphere.

[Corpus callosum and somesthetic transfer].

Here we describe somesthetic disconnection in 3 patients with callosal lesions. The results suggest the importance of the anterior and/or dorsal part of the posterior truncus of the corpus callosum for interhemispheric transfer of discriminative sensations and integrated somesthetic information necessary to tactile naming and somesthetic reading. We provide a hypothesis for the neural mechanisms underlying somesthetic communication.

Pseudobulbar dysarthria in the initial stage of motor neuron disease with dementia: a clinicopathological report of two autopsied cases.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical features of two cases of neurodegenerative disease, whose initial symptoms were motor speech disorder and dementia, brought to autopsy. We compared the distributions of pathological findings with the clinical features. The main symptom of speech disorder was dysarthria, involving low pitch, slow rate, hypernasality and hoarseness.

Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.

Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Unique features of this meta-analytic review include (a) more restrictive methodological quality inclusion criteria than in past meta-analyses; (b) cross-cultural comparisons; (c) longitudinal studies for all outcomes except physiological arousal; (d) conservative statistical controls; (e) multiple moderator analyses; and (f) sensitivity analyses. Social-cognitive models and cultural differences between Japan and Western countries were used to generate theory-based predictions.

The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: international evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies.

Although dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games. Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long-term prosocial behaviors. We report three studies conducted in three countries with three age groups to test this hypothesis.