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To explore possible neurotoxic sequelae of Gulf War (GW) participation, olfactory identification performance, neurocognitive functioning, health perceptions, and emotional distress were assessed in 72 veterans deployed to the GW and 33 military personnel activated during the GW but not deployed to the war zone. Findings revealed that war-zone-exposed veterans reported more concerns about health, cognitive functioning, and depression than did their counterparts who did not see war-zone duty. There was no evidence that performances on olfactory or neurocognitive measures were related to war-zone duty or to self-reported exposure to GW toxicants. However, symptoms of emotional distress were positively correlated with self-report of health and cognitive complaints. Results do not provide support for the hypothesis that objectively-measured sensory (i.e., olfactory) or cognitive deficits are related to war-zone participation but do underscore the increasingly demonstrated association between self-reported health concerns and symptoms of emotional distress.

No abstract

Attention is an integral component of information processing. A pronounced attention deficit exists among people with schizophrenia and their first-degree relatives as compared to persons without this pathology. Schizophrenics demonstrate marked deficiencies on psychophysical tasks that require temporal and / or spatial integration, properties that are associated with the two primary visual pathways composed of magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) cells, respectively. The deficit expresses itself as a dysfunctional information processing system that affects higher order processes, for example, perceptual ability and memory. The focus of this review is to integrate results from several divergent areas of research to include those studies that identify the contributions of the M and P pathways associated with information processing and the attention deficit. The diverse approaches reviewed in this chapter converge to provide a neurophysiologic explanation of the attention deficit in schizophrenia.