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Biomedical subjects

H W Gordon

Publications and source records attributed to H W Gordon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

The influence of gender, handedness, and performance level on specialized cognitive functioning.

Individual differences in performance on neuropsychological tests were analyzed across age (prepubertal to adult), gender, and handedness groups and examined for performance level as a moderating variable. No differences were observed for the factor structure of these tests across ages and between genders, suggesting similar cognitive structures among these groups. Significant differences in performance were observed between males and females and, to a lesser extent, between right and left handers. Of interest, were significant Gender x Handedness and Gender x Handedness x Level (of performance) interactions seen especially in the older (postpubertal and adult) subjects. High performing, right handed males and left handed females performed better on visuospatial tasks while left handed males and right handed females performed better on verbosequential tasks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Hemisphericity and its validity for education, vocation, and cognitive style.

Six studies are described demonstrating practical use for individual assessment of specialized cognitive function associated with the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Study #1 demonstrates that the majority of referred reading difficulties have a cognitive profile for which verbosequential abilities are 0.5 SD below average, while visuospatial abilities are 0.5 SD above average. Study #2 also demonstrates that first degree family members of dyslexics favor visuospatial skills. Study #3 demonstrates that public school children have lower reading but not lower arithmetic scores if their cognitive profile favors visuospatial skills. Study #4 demonstrates that visuospatial skills were predictive of success in training military pilots. Study #5 demonstrates a modest association of cognitive function and management skill. Finally, study #6 demonstrates that valid tests of brain function were not related to preference inventories purportedly designed to measure the same thing. The conclusion from these studies is that tests assessing specialized cognitive function may be useful in some areas of prediction of academic success and, to a lesser degree, management success. But caution in interpretation is advised because not all predictions were supported by the data.

Cognition↗
PubMed1989

Ultradian rhythms of right and left hemisphere function.

Two studies are described that demonstrate ultradian shifts in performance on tests of specialized function associated with the left or right cerebral hemispheres. The first study demonstrated that right-handed males who were tested upon wakening from Rapid Eye Movement sleep performed relatively better on visuospatial skills compared to themselves when tested upon wakening from Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep. In the second study, subjects were tested continuously for eight hours on a written word production test, a test of point localization, and a test of symbol digit substitution. Each of the tests was performed cyclically but with different periods. The results from both studies suggest that underlying cerebral mechanisms for verbosequential and visuospatial function are neurochemical in nature and not neuroanatomical because of the rapid (ultradian) shifts in performance level.

Biological Clocks↗
PubMed1988

Specialized cognitive function and reading achievement in hearing-impaired adolescents.

This study evaluated the performance of hearing-impaired adolescents on tests of specialized cognitive functioning and explored the linkage between cognitive profile and reading achievement. Other variables noted were mathematics achievement, speech production, etiology, and age of onset of hearing loss. Subjects were 62 severely-to-profoundly hearing-impaired students between 15 and 20 years of age, 31 "high readers" and 31 "low readers." Results indicated that, for this sample, cognitive function was below average for the verbal and sequential skills associated with the left hemisphere but above average for the "visuospatial" skills associated with the right hemisphere. Reading performance proved to be highly correlated with cognitive profile, as did mathematics performance and, to a lesser extent, speech and age of onset. Ramifications for instruction are discussed--in particular, development of strategies for using the right hemispheric cognitive strengths, as identified in this sample, to help overcome the deficits in "verbosequential" processing and reading achievement traditionally associated with hearing-impaired students.

Achievement↗
PubMed1986

A relationship between gonadotropins and visuospatial function.

Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) levels were negatively correlated with visuospatial function in two successive testing sessions in 32 young adult men. Men with high concentrations of FSH performed poorly on three-dimensional tests and tests of point localization. Men with low concentrations tended to perform better. Luteinizing Hormone (LH) tended to correlate positively with verbal/sequential skills and with two of the visuospatial skills for one session; testosterone was positively correlated with one spatial test. Multiple regression between the average performance on visuospatial tests and the three hormones produced Rs of 0.67 and 0.60, accounting for 39% and 29% of the variance, respectively, in Sessions 1 and 2. In women, the hormonal/behavior relationships were less clear although in many ways similar. For example, FSH was negatively correlated with one visuospatial test but only after the effects of estradiol and progesterone were partialled out. FSH was positively correlated with word fluency as was LH. With respect to sex differences women were poorer than men on the visuospatial tests and better on verbal fluency which is consistent with women's generally higher FSH levels and the negative relationship between FSH and visuospatial skills and the positive relationship with fluency.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Changes in specialized cognitive function following changes in hormone levels.

Increase of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in men by injection of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) prevented improvement in a spatial orientation test relative to a placebo condition. By contrast, performance on a fluency task was significantly increased after LHRH injection relative to the placebo condition. These data support between-subject results where FSH was negatively correlated with visuospatial skills and positively correlated with fluency. There was no change in cognitive function in males following injection of testosterone. There were also no fluctuations in cognitive function that coincided with hormonal fluctuations of the menstrual cycle in women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The cognitive laterality battery: tests of specialized cognitive function.

The Cognitive Laterality Battery of neuropsychological tests is described and normative data and statistics are presented. Selection of tests was based on converging evidence from studies on patients with unilateral cerebral lesions, complete forebrain commissurotomy, and on normal subjects suggesting that visuospatial skills are primarily related to the right hemisphere while verbal and sequential skills are primarily related to the left. Factor analyses confirmed the dichotomy of the test choices. It is suggested that test results on individuals be interpreted as a cognitive profile defining the relative performance of specialized functions rather than the relative right or hemisphere locations. Previous studies with the CLB are described.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Assessment of cognitive asymmetries in brain-damaged and normal subjects: validation of a test battery.

A test battery designed to assess cognitive functions normally related to the left and right cerebral hemispheres was validated on 30 patients with unilateral (16 right, 14 left) lesions. The tests were preselected to reflect typical functioning of the hemispheres according to general agreement in the literature. A Cognitive Laterality Quotient (CLQ) was calculated from the difference in performance between the "right" and "left" test batteries and, therefore, reflected the relative functioning attributed to the right and left hemispheres. Using the CLQ measurement and a control group of 30 non-neurological patients matched for age and education, 28 out of 30 brain-damaged patients (93%) were categorised correctly according to side of lesion; the other two were considered to have either abnormal lateralisation (one was left handed) or asymmetrical premorbid cognitive profiles. Using only one (paired) test whose two subparts were designed to vary only slightly in task requirements to measure either right or left functioning, 29 out of 30 patients were correctly categorised. It is suggested that the concept of relative assessment of basic cognitive functions is more fruitful than general assessment of intellectual functions for use in diagnosis and rehabilitation of neurological patients or normal subjects with developmental or acquired behavioural cognitive abnormalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Differential aphasia in tow bilingual individuals.

Moderate nonfluent aphasia following a left parietotemporal lesion was found in the native language of one bilingual patient, in contrast to less severe, fluent aphasia in the patient's secondary language. Conversely, mild anomia was found in the native language of a second patient, while global aphasia was found in the secondary language. His lesion was located in the left posterior frontal area. These examples of differential aphasia were assessed by standard aphasia tests and by language inventory translated into the appropriate languages. We propose that differential aphasia resulting from a single hemispheric lesion is related to the disruption of different basic cognitive functions, which participate to varying degrees in the performance of the languages affected. In terms of neurolinguistic theory, the findings in these patients support the observation that most frequently used language is the first to recover. They refute the notion that the native language recovers first.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Retraining in literal alexia: substitution of a right hemisphere perceptual strategy for impaired left hemispheric processing.

An adult patient with literal alexia, agraphia, slight anomia, and dyscalculia due to a left hemisphere infarct showed lack of sequential skills while pattern recognition remained intact. Some words were recognized as patterns, but could not be read phonetically. Therapy concentrated on forming an association of the visual pattern of the complete word with the retained auditory pattern. In this way the patient learned to read several hundred words and short phrases, even as anomia worsened. The patterns learned could not be generalized to noun declension or verb conjugation, or broken into smaller words. This learning process is characteristic of right hemispheric skills which were utilized as left hemispheric functions deteriorated.

Agraphia↗
PubMed1974

Hemispheric lateralization of singing after intracarotid sodium amylobarbitone.

Hemispheric lateralization of singing was investigated in patients who had transient hemiplegia after intracarotid injection of sodium amylobarbitone. It was found that after right carotid injection singing was markedly deficient, whereas speech remained relatively intact. Songs were sung in a monotone, devoid of correct pitch rendering; rhythm was much less affected. By contrast, singing was less disturbed than speech after left carotid injection. The observations indicated a double dissociation; the right hemisphere contributed more for singing, whereas the left demonstrated its usual dominance for speech. A model is proposed that encompasses audible stimuli as well as tactual or visual into a scheme of functional lateralization wherein the right hemisphere specializes in processing a complete, time-independent stimulus configuration and the left in a series of successive, time-dependent units.

Adult↗
PubMed1972

Alpha 1 antitrypsinin the livers of patients with emphysema.

Parenchymal liver cells from emphysema patients with an inherited deficiency of alpha(1)-antitrypsin contain globules of glycoprotein that bind fluorescent antibody to alpha(1)-antitrypsin. The globules can be seen after hematoxylin and eosinstaining or on electron microscopy, but are more readily demonstrated by PAS stain of amylase-treated liver sections. It appears that an inappropriately large amount of alpha(1)-antitrypsin is found in the liver even when there is a deficiency in the serum. Genetic variants of the normal antitrypsin molecule may be unable to leave their site of synthesis in the liver cell because of some molecular aberration.

Cell Nucleus↗