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The particular problem of recognition from unusual viewpoints, may well involve a substantial problem-solving component and employ frontal/central executive resources. The present study investigates this question using a dual-task technique. In Experiment 1, the reliability of an unusual views effect was demonstrated. Experiment 2 showed that a central executive secondary task selectively disrupts unusual views recognition. These results are discussed in the context of existing lesion and functional imaging findings.

Contingent negative variation (CNV) recordings were performed in 55 healthy volunteers under stress condition (experimentally induced pain). A total of 20 subjects were included in the control group (no painful administration). In the tested group (n = 35) the painful stimulus was delivered before Si, between S2 and Si, and before S2. In the control group there were no changes in CNV parameters. Conversely, among the tested group a positive correlation was found between CNV values (whenever the painful stimulus was administered before Si as well as before S2) and the highest scores in the State Trait Anxiety Inventory × 2 test. In addition, all individuals displayed the appearance of a positive deflection with a latency of about 300 ms from S₂ when the experimental stress was given before S2. Furthermore, the postimperative negative variation (PINV) appeared in 13 out of 35 subjects. There was a strong correlation between the latter electrophysiological phenomenon and the Nowlis test. Our findings suggest that CNV study is useful for the investigation of personality traits in human beings under stress conditions.

The authors recorded contingent negative variation (CNV) in a group of subjects affected by presenile dementia, at the onset of the symptoms, with a slight degree of intellectual deterioration. Recordings were carried out in rest basal conditions and upon administration of an insignificant distracting stimulus. Results were compared with data obtained in a group of normal subjects of the same age under the same experimental conditions. In the patients a marked decrease of the wave was observed upon the administration of a distracting stimulus.

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