of data. The demonstration that the informa- 

 Uona] state of the learner modulates the ef- 

 fectiveness of the reward has practical as 

 well as basic significance. 



• Quay, Wilbur, "Circadian Phase Shifts and 

 Mental Health." The results of this and simi- 

 lar studies have established that the mental 

 health of humans can be affected by repeated 

 forced shifts in the timing of circadian 

 rhythms. Knowledge of the role of circadian 

 rhythms in the adaptive process has both 

 practical and basic significance for the under- 

 standing of mental health/illness and its rela- 

 tionship to periodic environmental stressors. 



• Kintsch, Walter, "Text Comprehension and 

 Memory." This research is concerned with 

 the psychological processes involved in the 

 storage and retrieval of meaningful material 

 in memory. Particularly noteworthy is the 

 finding that "meaning" is stored indepen- 

 dently of its linguistic or semantic expres- 

 sion. This research has significance for the 

 understanding of brain-behavior relationships 

 in "higher" functions such as memory. 



The NIMH intramural research program con- 

 ducts research on the causes, diagnoses, and 

 methods of treatment of the mental disorders and 

 on the basic biological and behavioral processes 

 that underlie these disorders. In this program sci- 

 entists are encouraged to do fundamental research 

 and to attack problems that they believe solvable 

 and that are close to the heart of the mission. 

 Greater emphasis is placed on long-term solutions 

 than on short-term successes, and the laboratories 

 generally have provided the scientific freedom 

 necessary for the pursuit of fundamental issues. 

 This philosophy applies not only to such laborato- 

 ries as Neurophysiology and Cerebral Metabol- 

 ism, but extends to the clinical programs such as 

 in the Adult Psychiatry and the Clinical Neuro- 

 pharmacology Branches. Most of the psychiatrists 

 doing research on patients in this program are at 

 the same time carrying out some research that can 

 be described as basic. 



A Selection of Significant Basic Research 

 Projects for the Period 1968-1977 



The list that follows includes some of the most 

 significant basic research projects carried out in 

 the intramural program during the past 10 years. 

 It is a partial list and is not meant to be all-inclu- 

 sive. During the past 10 years this program has 

 produced about 3,000 publications. It would be 

 impractical to list them and virtually impossible to 

 provide a "representative" short list. 



Julius Axelrod. Ph.D. The control of catecholamine metabol- 

 ism. 



Julius Axelrod. Ph.D. Comparative biochemistry of the pi- 

 neal gland. 



Floyd E. Bloom. M.D. The fine structure and content of 

 brain monamine-containing nerve fibers. 



Edward V. Evarts, M.D. Cerebral control of movement. 



Seymour Kaufman. M.D. The conversion of phenylalanine 

 to tyrosine. 



Marian W. Kies. Ph.D. Myelin-basic protein— its use in es- 

 tablishing a model for autoimmune pathology. 



Melvin L. Kobn. Ph.D. Social psychological correlates of 

 occupational position. 



Irwin J. Kopin. M.D. False neurochemical transmitters. 



Carl L. Merril. M.D. The effect of small viruses and their 

 nucleic acids on the biochemistry of living organisms. 



Mortimer Mishkin. Ph.D. Neural mechanisms in vision. 



5. Harvey Mudd. M.D. Homocystinuria: Methionine meta- 

 bolism in mammals. 



Louis Sokoloff. M.D. The (14C) deoxyglucose method for 

 the measurement of local cerebral glucose consumption in the 

 brain. 



Ichiji Tasaki, M.D. Analysis of the macromolecular structure 

 of the nerve membrane during excitation. 



Marian R. Yarrow. Ph.D. A comparison of the retrospective 

 and prospective methods of studying child development. 



Current and Future Research Emphasis 



The areas of future interest in basic research 

 are, by the very nature of the need for basic re- 

 search, difficult to predict. In basic research ser- 

 endipity often plays as important a role as plan- 

 ning. However, some possible directions based on 

 current state of knowledge and research can be 

 suggested for the next few years. 



NIAAA 



The current basic research priorities of 

 NIAAA are principally in the biomedical area. 



• The central nervous system. Little is known 

 about the mechanism underlying alcohol in- 

 toxication. Studies are needed to determine 

 the effects of alcohol on brain cell mem- 

 branes and neurochemistry. More informa- 

 tion is needed on the pharmacokinetics of 

 alcohol. There is the need to develop phar- 

 macological agents that abort or mitigate al- 

 cohol intoxication. 



• Nutrition and the gastrointestinal tract. In 

 vestigations need to be done on alcohol-in- 

 duced damage to the gastric muscosa, as well 

 as on the mechanism underlying malabsorp- 

 tion of vitamins and other nutrients resulting 

 from chronic and excessive use of alcohol. 



• The endocrine system. Alcohol ingestion has 



HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE 91 



