Since Dax (1865) and Broca (1865) have found that the center of expressive speech exists in the left hemisphere of our brains, many studies have been reported and a variety of research methods have been devised. Especially laterality research in human experimental neuropsychology has contributed to understanding the mechanism of functional hemispheric asymmetries. While neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI, PET, and MEG are mainly employed in contemporary neuropsychology, behavioral methods also have been providing valuable data concerning functional cerebral asymmetries. Divided visual field presentation and dichotic listening have been key behavioral paradigms for laterality research. From the viewpoint of transition of human neuropsychological studies, this article reviews these two key paradigms.

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The present study examined rats ’helping-like behavior towards restrained conspesifics in a trap. In a trapped condition, a rat was restrained in a wire mesh trap placed in an open field. The trap had a slide door that could be opened only from outside. A subject rat was placed in the field and allowed to explore the trap for 30 min. On an empty trial, restrained rats were not placed in the trap. Identical subjects received the trapped and empty trials alternately for 20 trials for each condition. Rats reliably learned to open the door of the trap and release the trapped rats without any obvious rewards. It was expected that rats would open the door quicker on the trapped trials than on the empty trials if the rat ’s door opening behavior was motivated to help conspesifics. However, latency of door opening response remained almost equal between the trapped and the empty conditions. Additionally, in almost all cases subject rats entered the trap by themselves after opening the door. The results suggest that apparent helping behavior towards other conspesifics in rats might be induced by nonsocial motivation such as manipulating or entering into the trap but not by empathy or reducing distress in conspesifics.

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Many previous studies have indicated the role of configural information from eyebrows, eyes, nose, and the mouth in the process of face recognition. We focused on configurations such as centripetal and centrifugal faces. In a “centripetal face” each part of the face is located close to the center of the face, whereas in a “centrifugal face” they are placed away from the center. We experimentally investigated how these configurations affected impressions of the face. We produced five average female facial images. Then two centripetal and centrifugal facial images were generated using each of the five average faces, such that a total of 25 facial images were used as stimuli. Participants () were asked to rate the faces in terms of 20 semantic differential scales. A factor analysis with varimax rotation suggested two factors: “activity” and “familiarity.” The placements of the facial images in the factor space indicated that both centripetal and centrifugal faces were relatively less active and less familiar than their average ones, and there were no relations between centripetal/centrifugal faces and the two factors. These results imply that configurations of facial parts such as centripetal and centrifugal faces could change facial impressions. How such facial configural information will affect the impression of the face remains to be solved.

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The Bayley Infant and Child Development Study 3rd Edition (Bayley-III) can be used to objectively evaluate the development of infants and it has been used as a standard test in the US and Europe. In this study, (1) we compared the performance of very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) and extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWI) at 18 months to examine the developmental characteristics, (2) we examined the relationship between three domains (Cognitive, Language, Motor) and the birth data (birth weight, gestational age, head circumference). Additionally, (3) we compared the scores of three domains in each group (ELBWI, VLBWI). All LBWIs examined in this study were born in Toyama University Hospital of NICU between April 2009 and March 2014. Forty-two LBWIs were assessed using the complete Bayley-III at 18 months. The results showed that VLBWI scored higher than ELBWI at composite motion. Scores of ELBWI did not correlate with any birth data, but in VLBWI, the heavier birth weight, the higher gross motor raw score. These results suggest that the development of the motor domain is remarkably different between VLBWI and ELBWI.

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This study is a case report about two deaf students with early infancy cochlear implantation. The participants were in the fifth grade but had different educational evolvements. One was a student at an elementary school integrated in the community, the other was a student at a special education school for the deaf with sign language. They were interviewed about their acceptance of the disability, how they felt about their cochlear implant and their identity of themselves. The interview data were analyzed with a qualitative data analysis method, “SCAT”（Step Coding and Theorization; Otani, 2008, 2011）. In this case study, it is seen that both students had a healthy self-esteem and good feelings about their cochlear implant, due to their good communicational home environments. Also, their mothers had a positive influence on their acceptance of the disability and their identity formation.

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Recent research suggests that the number of winners wearing red were greater than those wearing blue in a competitive context. Red is viewed as the color of arousal; blue is viewed as the color of calmness. In view of this, the present study investigated whether wearing red or blue influenced the wearers ’aggression in the context of sports. In the experiment, 56 participants were randomly assigned to a red condition, a blue condition, or a control condition. In the control condition, participants wore gray sweat suit. All participants completed a questionnaire that assessed their aggression in an imagined same-sex boxing match. Then, all participants were asked to hit a punching bag for 45 seconds. The number and strength of these punches were other measures of aggression. Results revealed that wearing red did not affect wearers ’aggression. On the other hand, wearing blue decreased wearers ’evaluation of their aggression, but not the number and strength of their punches. The implications of these findings regarding wearing different colors are discussed.

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