Yearbook 01


Stephan Hinze
Home Institution Freie Universität Berlin Host Institution University of Florida, Gainesville, Department of Neurology Mentor: Kenneth Heilman, M.D. Clinical Rotation 1) Shands Hospital, Dep. of Radiology (University of Florida) 2) I also had the chance to attend the memory disorders clinic of Prof. Heilman every Wednesday E-Mail S.Hinze@gmx.net
Research Topic see Abstract
Personal Reactions to the U.S. Experience A fantastic time! The work in the lab is enlightening, the atmosphere friendly and relaxed and the people (in this case only Americans) great. Besides this, living in a pure college town with a moderate climate throughout the wintertime is quite an experience. You can play tennis outside until late at night and the sport facilities of the university in general are very good, too. If you want to go to the beach you only have to drive 1 hour to either the west or the east coast, where you find pleasant warm water. You can also try to catch some nice waves near St. Augustine and Jacksonville (not only California is good for surfing). Meeting people is very easy since almost 50% of the population in Gainesville are students, and there is a big group of Cubans and Puerto Ricans here - a good chance to learn some salsa dancing. Did you know that the Gatorade was invented here? But there will also be a sad part of the time here in the US in my memory, because of the shocking terror attacks on the WTC. Life stopped for a while and all thoughts went to the 11th of September. Everywhere you could find American flags (especially on cars), and this topic dominated all discussions. Florida is far away from NY and things calmed down pretty soon. However, it was a very fearful time for me, not only because of the airplane and anthrax events, but mainly because of the reactions in the US. Directed by an emotionally manipulating media, 92% of the population supported war, and suspicion towards Arabic people was raised.
Greatest Difficulties Encountered Finding Gainesville on a map. You have to get a detailed one: Gainesville is located about 100 miles northwest of Orlando. Getting registered at the University is also very difficult, especially because no one really knows what kind of status you have. In general, dealing with the bureaucracy requires a lot of patience.
Most humorous incident One day, we rented two canoes in the Everglades. After having passed a fairly big alligator, the other boat managed to flip over and my friends were standing in the muddy water (who knows why - was it because of the beer or simply inability, or both?). On our way back we had to pass the alligator again. My boat was the first and the gator didn't look very happy when we disturbed its rest. Before the others could pass it, it jumped into the water. I have never seen people riding that fast in a canoe.
Helpful Hints for Future Students Get to Gainesville at least one week before the semester starts. You will find perfect conditions for apartments, cars, etc.. You should have a car here (even though there is a public transportation system). Join at least one of the sport clubs of the university. It is a good chance to meet other students. Get your Gator-1 card as soon as possible, and also get the "Handbook for International Students" at the international student office. There are a lot of other little hints, so feel free to contact me.
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Abstract on Research Topic:
Hemispheric Dominance of Motor Inhibition

Authors:
S. Hinze, B. Shenal, K. Heilman

Institution at which research was done:
Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine

Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to determine which hemisphere plays the more important role in motor response inhibition tasks.

Materials and Methods:
Subjects were 14 right-handed college students (8 women and 6 men, ages 18 to 31, without color blindness or major head trauma). In the non-cued stimulus-response condition subjects responded to red or green squares randomly presented either in the right or left visual field. The subjects responded by pressing a left sided key (x) with their left hand and a right sided key with their right hand (.). One half of the subjects responded with their left hand to red stimuli and with their right hand to green stimuli, the other half responded in the opposite way. In the cued stimulus response condition, the imperative stimuli and responses were the same as in the non-cued condition. In this condition, however, 500 ms prior to the onset of the imperative red or green stimulus, the subject received a red or green cue randomly in left or right hemispace. In 80% of the trials the cue and imperative stimuli were the same colour and in 20% of the trials they were different colours (miscues). Reaction times in the uncued and cued conditions were measured in ms.

Analysis:
1)a) In the non-cued condition we determined if, independent of the other factors, there were hand or gender asymmetries. We also determined if there were any overall differences in reaction time in response to colour.
b) In the non-cued condition we also analysed for spatial compatibility (i.e., to learn if left hand responses are more rapid to left than to right sided stimuli and vice versa).
2)a) In the cued condition we analysed for the cost of miscues (e.g.. do miscues have longer reaction times than correct cues?),
b) as a function of hemispace of presentation (right verses left, independent of hand used and compatibility)
c) as a function of hand independent of hemispace d) as a function of compatibility (e.g., are miscues on the same side as the hand used more or less expensive than miscues on the other side)
e) as an interaction between hemispace of presentation of miscue and the hand used

Results & Conclusions:
We are still running the analysis, therefore no results are available at the moment.

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