THURSDAY MORNING


Atlantic Room
 
 
 

9:00 AXIAL BRAIN INJURY AND BEHAVIOR

Orlando J. Andy* and George Mandybur, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216

Objective: This presentation demonstrates brain injury that implicates the non-thinking axial (emotion) brain can alter behavior through implication of the mesothalamus, the major gateway to the overlying thinking cortical brain. Clinical Patients: Two adult woman (ages 26 & 27) were in separate car accidents, had loss of consciousness and neurologic complications predominantly implicating subcortical axial brain and, in part, temporal lobe structures. Episodic motor, sensory and memory impairments occurred during their daily activity. Recurrent headaches, aggressiveness with and without hyperactivity were present. Disturbing odors and taste sensations were prominent in one patient. Medical treatments with various drugs were inadequate. Surgical treatment with a brain implanted self stimulating electrode was effective in suppressing the symptoms and maintaining normal behaviors; sensory, motor, cognitive and social. Both patients had a second head injury accident, one at 16 months, and the other at 20 yrs, after the first. Symptoms in both patients duplicated the ones that developed after the first injury. They also became more pronounced than those associated with the first accident. Electrical self stimulation was required at higher levels of stimulation and longer periods of time, before returning to a state of well being. Conclusion: Post traumatic abnormal electrical discharges in the axial subcortical brain can disrupt the normal sensory, motor and cognitive processes of the thinking brain. Those abnormal discharges can be controlled by self electrical stimulation in the mesothalamus of the axial brain.

9:15 THE VOLUNTEER PERSONALITY: PREFERENCES OF CANCER PATIENTS

Patricia Conner*, Shanquilla Taylor*, Alinda Sledge, and J. Reid Jones, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS 38733

Interest in volunteerism by university students has increased dramatically over the past decade. New volunteer opportunities are rapidly being added to the more traditional types of service. One new area is for volunteers to work with cancer patients, providing services such as transportation, assistance with household tasks, and social interaction. However, cancer patients face strong emotional challenges, and they may have preferences for certain personality characteristics in the potential volunteer. This study surveyed the preferences of 64 cancer patients who attend support group meetings in a rural, Mississippi town. A 25 item questionnaire was distributed to persons in the support group, requesting information concerning demographics and preferred personality characteristics for potential volunteers. The personality items were based on Digman's (1990) theory of the "big five" personality clusters which have emerged from research. Profiles of these five factors was presented as a function of duration of diagnosis and other demographic factors. Comments of the patients' provided additional, qualitative insights into their volunteer preferences.
 
 

9:30 Divisional Business Meeting
 
 

10:00 PATTERNS OF MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE IN RURAL MISSISSIPPI: DEMOGRAPHICS AND TRENDS

Angela T. Mickey* and J. Reid Jones, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS 38733

Rural Mississippi differs in many ways from trends that are prevalent in the United States. Divorce rates indicate that this significant human problem is increasing in rural areas as well as in the rest of the nation. Data were collected over a ten year period from Mississippi Vital Statistics. Statistical profiles of economic and demographic variables in Mississippi's 75 rural counties were compared with the eight "urban" counties, illustrating four significant (p <.05) relationships. The unique demographic and economic features of rural Mississippi were used as a partial explanation of marriage and divorce trends. Perspectives from attorneys and counselors were presented to provide a more complete understanding of these trends.
 
 

10:15 FLASHBULB MEMORY FOR A LOCALLY RELEVANT EVENT: THE PEARL HIGH SCHOOL MURDERS

Stephen T. Black* and Diana Heise, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS 39210

Sixty-seven undergraduate college students completed a questionnaire on the events of the Pearl High School murders, the circumstances under which they learned of the murders, and the emotions they felt on learning of the murders. Flashbulb memories are highly vivid and detailed memories of emotionally laden events (Brown and Kuklik, 1977). Four months after the murders participants were recontacted and their current memories assessed for accuracy, vividness and confidence in the accuracy of their memories. Participants overestimated the accuracy of their memories and were highly confident in their memory accuracy.