Discusses research which provides evidence that an adult's vocabulary may be segmented into specific categories that can be disrupted "highly selectively" when the brain is injured. (JN)

The article shows significant steps by the thinkers of the eighteenth century to reevaluate in a more realistic way the whole problem of language's origin and of the physical conditions that determine the acquisition of speech by humankind. (Author/CL)

Provides comments on research studies related to memory systems, considering those exploring the nature of memory traces. One researcher suggests that memory trace circuits are extremely localized (as opposed to being diffuse), such that a lesion in a rabbit's brain can completely destroy the trace for a particular learned response. (JN)

Summarized is the complex, wholistic, and dynamic interaction of overlapping neurophysiological and neuropsychological compensatory processes in dysmetric dyslexia and dyspraxia in children. (Author/DB)

Effects of location of electroconvulsive treatment (either the right or left side of the patient's head) are discussed. (CD)

The autistic syndrome is considered in the context of a disorder of brain development. The authors conclude that disruption of developmental loci most probably occurs in the end stages of neuronal development, after migrating neurons have reached their final place in the brain and are elaborating communicative processes. (Author)

Although some have argued that the type of language and cognitive defects shown by autistic children almost certainly reflects forebrain dysfunctions, current studies point to the possibility that some autistic children may have dysfunction of neural systems in the brainstem. (Author)

Part two of the paper reports some recent illustrative findings on the role of planning in human problem solving behavior. Some implications of these researches for mental retardation are discussed. (Author/SB)

This paper reviews neuroanatomic studies on syndromes classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Findings in autism and Asperger's syndrome suggest that these two disorders may represent a continuum along a neurobiological spectrum with a common neuroanatomic substrate, while Rett syndrome appears to be clinically and anatomically distinct…

This review of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in autism addresses three questions: (1) what structural anomalies of the brain have been identified by MRI? (2) why are these collective findings inconclusive? and (3) where should neuroimaging research go from here? It is noted that the vast majority of MRI scans in autism are clinically…

This study investigated whether neuromotor differences between adults who stutter (n=10) and gender- and age-matched non-stuttering adults (n=10) are not limited to the movements involved in speech production. Results revealed significant differences between groups on measures of lip and jaw closing (but not opening) movements during speech and in…