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Additonal content, powerpoint presentation, "The art of splicing" held on CD with print copy of thesis in Turitea Library. / This thesis is about the stories people with aphasia tell about self and identity. it is also a story about the process of research with people with aphasia. It is about narrative and self-construction and it is in itself a narrative. While there has been much discussion about the need for interventions which take into account self and identity in aphasia and innovative pioneering work on therapies addressing identity, there is, however, still little specific reported research in aphasiology that addresses these issues. This applied project sought to further understand the impact of aphasia on the construction of self by exploring self and identity using a narrative approach and using a more participatory approach to research. It was grounded in narrative and relational theory and this led to exploring self and identity through life stories. Eight people with aphasia took part in a life story interview. These were analysed using the voice centred relational method which culminated in eight interpretive narratives. The main findings of this qualitative inquiry were support for the notion that biographical disruption is not the only response to aphasia, support for a relational approach to self and identity and support for inclusive research practices in aphasia research. The strengths and limitations of the project were examined and implications for research and practice were developed.

The attentional blink (AB) refers to a decrement in detecting the occurrence of a probe item if it closely follows a previous target item in a stream of stimuli in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). In a series of experiments I investigated the question of hemispheric asymmetries in the AB. Experiment 1 was a simplification of the experiment by Raymond et al. (1992) to determine whether the particular stimuli and task conditions of my study would produce an AB. In Experiments 2 and 3, two RSVP streams were presented in parallel, one in each visual field. The AB occurred only when participants both identified and located the target, and not when they simply located it. When targets and probes were both presented in the right visual field (RVF), the typical AB pattern was obtained, sparing probes in the first post-target location ("lag 1 sparing"). However, the AB was greatly attenuated when both target and probe were in the left visual field (LVF). When target and probe were in different spatial locations, there was a strong decrement in detecting the probe in the first post-target position-again more marked in the RVF. Cross-stream decrements may reflect the transient effects of shifting attention, while the AB itself appeared to be largely restricted to within-stream sequences, and to processing by the left cerebral hemisphere. Experiment 4 was a further behavioural study, in which I examined differences in functional cerebral asymmetries modulated by gonadal steroid hormones during the menstrual cycle in women. Twenty-one right handed women, with regular menstrual cycle, were tested with a double RSVP task (one stream in each visual field) during the low steroid menses and the high steroid midluteal phase. An AB was obtained bilaterally in the midluteal phase, while during menses the probe detection deficit was evident only in the RVF. Low steroid levels appeared to stabilize functional cerebral asymmetries. In contrast, high levels of estradiol and progesterone in the midluteal phase appeared to reduce functional asymmetries due to a selective enhancement of the AB in the right hemisphere. In Experiment 5 and 6 I recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the temporal course of the AB. probe-related ERPs were compared between the control condition and the experimental condition when the probe was presented in the blink period (post-target position 2-4) and in the no-blink period (post-target position 6-8). In the control condition in which the subjects were told to ignore the target, there was a negative peak around 300 ms following the probe, regardless of whether the probe was presented during the blink phase or during the no-blink phase. The same peak was found for the experimental condition when the probe was presented during the no-blink phase, but was missed for probes presented during the blink phase. This finding provides strong evidence that the AB reflects an impairment in a postperceptual stage of probe processing, probably at the stage of working memory. I replicated the finding (Vogel, Luck, & Shapiro, 1998) that the AB and the P3 elicited by the target component are related. Source localisation of electrophysiological activities using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA; Pascual-Marqui, Michel, & Lehmann, 1994) revealed reduced activation during the AB in the left cerebral hemisphere when letters were used as stimuli, whereas the right hemisphere showed reduced activation when symbols were used. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

An experimental group (Group A) of 22 children around 7 years of age who had normal hearing for pure tones but who had experienced neonatal jaundice with peak bilirubin levels of at least 300 µmol/l was tested on a range of audiological tests selected to assess aspects of their central auditory processing. Children who had not been tested for bilirubin level were selected as control subjects (Group B); they were matched on the variables gender, race, gestational age, birthweight, Apgar scores and occurrence of respiratory problems. A smaller experimental group, Group C (n=7), with peak bilirubin levels between 250 and 299 µmol/l but with perinatal complications was also studied. The experimental groups had higher mean acoustic reflex thresholds and lower mean reflex amplitudes than the control group. Acoustic reflex threshold patterns of abnormality consistent with central dysfunction occurred in two children from the main experimental group and two children in the control group. None of the children from Group C showed abnormal reflex thresholds. Acoustic reflex amplitude patterns of abnormality consistent with central dysfunction were present in six children from Group A and two children from Group C, compared with three children from the control group. Masking level differences were absent in five subjects from Group A and three children from Group C, compared with three control subjects. No group differences were evident for ABR latency or amplitude measures, but poor morphology or repeatability of wave V was observed in ten subjects from Group A and three children from Group C, compared with five children from the control group. A larger number of failures within the experimental groups was found for two of the four speech tests, that is, for interrupted and filtered speech tests, but not speech in noise or competing words tests. Five children from Group A (but none from Group C) performed poorly on the interrupted speech test, compared with two from Group B. The filtered speech test was failed by six children from Group A and two children from Group C, compared with two from Group B. Parental reports of behavioural or learning disorders were distributed equally among the groups and were not associated with particular patterns of test failure. Overall, children in the experimental groups failed significantly more tests of central auditory functioning than did children in the control group (F(2,48)=5.5,p<.01). The results were interpreted as implicating jaundice in long-term central auditory processing abnormalities.

This thesis approaches the area of women's body image with the aim of expanding existing knowledge based on traditional male/female comparisons of how women respond to quantitative measures of body image. It does so by distinguishing between some different body-type groups of women. These were mostly Caucasian women aged eighteen and over who lived in the greater Auckland area. They were grouped as: normal weight (n=43); overweight (n=37); women with eating disturbances (n=27); and body builders (n=17). A pilot study involving ten normal weight women examined the face validity of several established international measures of body image as well as additional ones developed for the main study. The established questionnaires were: the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, the Body Esteem Scale, the Weight Locus of Control Scale, a Figure Rating Scale and a Silhouette Rating scale. The newer measures consisted of modifications made to the Figure Rating Scale and the Silhouette Rating scale. Verbal questions about teasing history were also asked, the intention being to formulate a teasing history questionnaire for the main study. These measures were found to be valid by the women. In part one of the main study quantitative comparisons between the groups revealed some differences, but also some surprising similarities. Desirable body types of normal weight and muscular physique were described positively in physical and personality terms. The undesirable body types of thin and overweight received negative descriptions irrespective of the women's own group membership. The eating disordered women scored the lowest self-esteem while the other groups did not differ. The body builders scored the highest body-esteem while the normal weight and overweight, and overweight and eating disordered groups did not differ. Correlations between self-esteem and body-esteem were significant for all groups except the body builders. The correlation was strong for the eating disordered group and moderate for the normal weight and overweight groups. In the Figure Rating Scale the body builders chose more muscular ideal figures than the other groups and for all groups the ideal and current figures were usually one figure size different. At least half the women in each group felt their body was the same size as they thought it was' Of those remaining who gave different answers to the think versus feel ratings, nearly all in the eating disordered group reported they felt bigger. In the other groups there was an even split between those who felt bigger and those who felt smaller than they thought they were. The women were most united in their selection of the figure they thought men would find most attractive. In approximately a quarter to one third of each group (excluding the body builders due to small numbers) the figure selected as attractive to men was also chosen as the self ideal. Approximately a quarter of each group [excluding body builders) selected the same self ideal and peer ideal, however a considerable percentage of women selected a larger self ideal than peer ideal. All groups reported there should not be an ideal figure at all in society. All groups tended to believe that their weight was under their own control. Most women reported having been teased about their appearance and being affected by this teasing. This was especially noticeable for the eating disordered group, a considerable percentage reporting they still felt adversely affected by it. Part two of the study introduces feminist poststructuralist theory and the Foucaultian concept of power and discourse analysis as ways to explore body image research. The body image literature introduced in part one is then revisited showing how this area of research can be harmful for women. The presentation of the interviews with 28 women follows, seven women from each body type group. A short form of discourse analysis was used for the women's responses to issues in body building, their explanations of the self-esteem, body-esteem, and the results of the correlation of the two. Issues related to the presence of an ideal figure size in society are also discussed. A longer form of discourse analysis was involved for the readings of the women's accounts of having been teased about their appearance. These readings showed many women located their accounts of teasing within a discourse of trivialisation-of-teasing, indicating that the seemingly trivial practice of teasing is a powerful form of social control, resulting in feelings of vulnerability. The study concluded with summaries and conclusions from the literature presented in the introductions of both parts one and two. The quantitative and qualitative research methods were compared to see what both could offer body image research. Finally speculations were made about directions which body image research could take at both the individual and cultural level.