密栅云纹法在人体外形测量中的应用

为协调弹射座椅坐垫舒适性、工效与弹射加速度效应，我们用１０名被试者按臀围大小分成三组，并利用密栅云纹法测量其坐姿时背部和臀部的外形。结果表明，不同百分位数受试者等高线图是很有规律的。所测得的人体测量数据已用于设计弹射座椅坐垫外形。另外，背部等高线图能够发现脊柱侧弯，因此该法可用于选拔飞行员。     

Affectivity in the nervous system

Affectivity is an ambiguous term, related altogether to, mood, well-being, ill-being, emotional states, and at the same time to individual sensitivity, capacity to feel moved, as well as feelings and passions. We want to show that those states, as different as they may seem, belong to the perception by the central nervous system of past or present modifications, of an organism reacting to situations it has to cope with. Opposite to common opinion, this affectivity is not "generated" by the cerebral cortex but by the central brain. It results from memory input by the limbic system and from information processing by the hypothalamus and the reticular system, and from processing of mood and emotional rates provoked by self reactions in order to perpetuate survival, protection or one's own species. Considered as "favourable" or "unfavourable" after analyses by the limbic cortex, those states become in the central brain "pleasure" or "aversion", and generate motivation for action, to follow-on or to stop. From the limbic cortex, those motivations are transmitted to the contiguous prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is a center for action imitation. One may imagine it as a center for conscious cortical activity and for affective memory. This organisation of affectivity and affective memory settings in 2 different centers and at two different levels of the nervous system: the limbic cortex and the prefrontal neo-cortex. The prefrontal neo-cortex only is conscious, but the limbic cortex, although unconscious, is a source of motivation. One is led to describe an unconscious affectivity. It is impossible to talk about this affectivity without mentioning Freud's unconscious.     

From the abducens nucleus to spatial memory: an ocular motor journey

Advances in our knowledge on eye movements over the last 25 years are reviewed, focusing on the author's experience. First, the advantages of binocular frontal vision, which is a common characteristic of all predator mammals, are compared to those of lateral vision, characterizing their preys. Binocular frontal vision implies a perfect parallelism of both eyes, which is ensured in the pons by means of the abducens nucleus, controlling abduction as well as adduction. The pathological example of the "one-and-a-half" syndrome, in which the abducens nucleus and the adjacent medial longitudinal fasciculus are simultaneously impaired, is described. The main brainstem syndromes involving vertical eye movements are also reviewed: in particular, the third nerve nucleus syndrome, in which both ipsilateral third nerve paralysis and contralateral superior rectus paralysis (with hypotropia) result from a unilateral third nerve nucleus lesion. A case of upbeat nystagmus (in the primary position of gaze) due to a small upper pontine lesion, probably affecting the ventral tegmental tract (VTT) is also reported. This is an opportunity to emphasize that, although a number of cases of upbeat nystagmus due to focal brainstem lesions affecting the upward vestibular pathway (UVP)--either at the upper pontine (VTT) or caudal medullary level--exist in the literature, no convincing cases with downbeat nystagmus (in the primary position of gaze) due to a focal brainstem lesion have been reported. Downbeat nystagmus could result from a UVP hyperactivity (secondary to a floccular lesion) and the notion that this pathway is physiologically predominant compared to the downward pathway, maybe due to gravity, is developed. A new hypothesis about the role of the caudal medulla in UVP is also proposed. Next, the cortical control of saccadic eye movements is reviewed, with a reminder that reflexive saccades are mainly triggered by the parietal eye field whereas intentional saccades depend upon the frontal eye field. The inhibition of reflexive saccades is mainly controlled by the dorsolateral frontal cortex (DLPFC), i.e. area 46 of Brodmann. A few examples of the use of saccades as a research tool and model in cognitive neurosciences are given. The use of memory-guided saccades allowed us to study spatial memory and led us to propose a relatively original conception of the cortical control of spatial memory in which the DLPFC, the parahippocampal cortex and the hippocampal formation could be involved successively according to specific periods of time. An experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a paradigm studying decision is described, again with the involvement of the DLPFC in the decisional process. Lastly, the usefulness of eye movements in clinical neuro-ophthalmology at the bedside as well as in neurophysiological or even neuropsychological research in the laboratory is emphasized.     

L’entraînement de la mémoire de travail est-il bénéfique pour les enfants présentant un trouble déficit de l’attention/hyperactivité ?

Introduction

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is known to be associated with impairment across multiple domains, including social, familial, emotional and academic functioning. Available therapies, and in particular medical treatment, fail to produce lasting improvement in academic and learning outcomes. In this context, recent years have seen a growing interest of experts and practitioners for computer-based cognitive training programs. Indeed, it has been proposed that repeated training of specific executive functions may result in lasting benefits for children with ADHD, especially in the school setting. Cogmed RoboMemo, a program targeting working memory, is the cognitive training that has been the most extensively studied.

La mémoire : une clé de voûte dans l’œuvre de Jean Delay

Known worldwide as the discover of neuroleptics, Jean Delay (1907–1987) dedicaded an important part of his work to memory. First his medical thesis entitled astereognosies is focused on the touch disorders. This work has been followed by a thesis of philosophy under the leadership of Pierre Janet, about memory disorders. Jean Delay proposed a classification of neurological and psychiatric memory disorders taking heed to Maurice Halbwachs’ work on collective memory. And the end of his life, as a writer, Jean Delay led an ambitious project. Thanks to his researches in French national Archives, he published in four volumes the history of his maternal ancestors from XVIth to XIXth century. This work has several connections with two of Marguerite Yourcenar's books: Dear Departed: A Memoir and How Many Years: A Memoir. Jean Delay supported the election of Marguerite Yourcenar at L’Académie française, the first woman to be elected at the prestigious French institution. Psychological traits of Jean Delay are also drawn in this paper.     

Evaluation of memory for French public events: EVE-30 in 108 controls, 10 mild cognitively impaired and 10 Alzheimer's disease patients

INTRODUCTION: Public events memory is a principal historic component of memory for the past. METHOD: We propose a new form of the French public events battery EVE which has been elaborated in 1994. EVE-30 uses 30 events dated between 1920 and 2004. Each event assesses recall, recognition, questions and dating. New exposure and flash souvenirs can be explored. One hundred and eight controls aged between 20 and 79 years, ten patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ten patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean percentage of good responses in controls group is good with a scale of 72p.cent. Performances were gradually observed. Recognition was respectively better than recall, than datation and than questions. Statistical analysis with ANOVA showed that an older age and a higher level of education significantly influenced results (p<0.05). MCI patients and MA patients exhibited more impaired performances than controls. MCI and MA patients had similar impairment in recognition and questions (very altered in the two groups). The French public events battery (EVE 30) can be performed in one hour and may be considered as a neuropsychological tool for the evaluation of memory for the historical past in clinical practice.     

Déficit de mémoire autobiographique et d’estimation du temps après une anoxie cérébrale

A case of episodic amnesia with impairment of time perception is described; it illustrates the link between time perception and autobiographical memory. This woman suffered from a Sheehan syndrome with anoxia at the age of 36 and since that date has had a strong and isolated difficulty to estimate the date and duration of events in a range of weeks, months or years. Conversely, short duration time spans are correctly evaluated. The patient's complaints also involve episodic memory. She reports many events from her biography very imprecisely while the semantic autobiographical data are preserved. The patient has difficulty in recalling the date of public events and the period of celebrity of well-known people. That observation confirms the specificity of time organization for long periods and the link with the episodic memory where the context of the dating task is crucial. The results are discussed in reference to autobiographical memory that involves mental wandering in time-space and the constitution of self over a time continuum.