Diagnostic implications of the B-mitten EEG pattern: relationship to primary and secondary affective dysregulation

Previous studies indicate that the B-Mitten EEG pattern is specific to psychiatric dysfunction and rarely encountered among normal control subjects. Our previous investigations have demonstrated a significant relationship between mittens and reactive as opposed to process schizophrenic disease. Re-analyses of mitten incidence in schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics suggests needed modification of our earlier B-Mitten-schizophrenia formulation. Present considerations indicate that the B-Mitten-reactive schizophrenia association is not primary but rather that the differential process-reactive schizophrenia mitten incidence may be a secondary epiphenomenon reflecting a more fundamental underlying process. Analyses are presented suggesting that the mitten dysrhythmia relates positively to dysphoric affective dysregulation in a manner which cuts across broad diagnostic boundaries. That the mitten pattern possibly suggests as yet unclarified subcortical dysfunction associated with symptoms of affective disturbance is a tentative hypothesis offered for consideration.     

Recall and recognition free learning in schizophrenics.

Administered recall and recognition learning tasks to 30 schizophrenic and 30 nonschizophrenic psychiatric inpatients. The schizophrenics were inferior to the nonschizophrenics in the number of correct items reproduced on the recall tests, but the 2 groups did not differ significantly in the number of correct items identified on the recognition tests. The schizophrenics made more intrusion errors on both the tests of recall and recognition. Compared to the nonschizophrenics, the schizophrenics' intrusion errors were more marked on the recall than on the recognition tests: the Groups * Tasks interaction was significant. Results are related to a theory of overinclusion in schizophrenia, developed to account for schizophrenic deficits in a communication task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived maternal nurturance and control of process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normals.

Attempted to compare the amount of maternal nurturance and control as measured by A. B. Heilbrun (see 38:5) in 3 S groups 33 male process schizophrenics, 33 male reactive schizophrenics, and 198 normal male undergraduates. Ss were administered the "Parent Attitude Research Instrument . . . measuring control and the Parent-Child Interaction Rating Scale . . . measuring nurturance." Results support the hypothesis "of nurturance differences being present between the mothers of process schizophrenics and mothers of reactive schizophrenics" and "the process-reactive distinction in regard to differences in prior family interaction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mnemonic organization in young nonpsychotic schizophrenics.

Describes 2 experiments with 18-27 yr old nonpsychotic schizophrenics (n = 32), nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients (n = 112), and nonhospitalized normals (n = 32). In Exp. I, Ss were given repeated free-recall trials of 20 "unrelated" words and of 20 categorized words. The schizophrenics' recall and mnemonic organization, as indexed by measures of subjective organization, categorical clustering, and hierarchical clustering schemes, were both inferior to those of the normals and, to some extent, to those of the nonschizophrenics. While the normals and nonschizophrenics tended to build up higher-order mnemonic units with trials, this trend was weak in the schizophrenics. In Exp. II, nonpsychotic schizophrenics and normals engaged in repeated recognition tasks of 40 words and 40 consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams. The recognition memory of the schizophrenics was the same as that of the normals, in spite of contextual variations of the study and test lists. Results are interpreted on the basis of the 2-process theory of recall as supporting the view that the basic deficit of schizophrenia in mnemonic processing is a difficulty in unitizing the material. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and the discriminative "power" of the MMPI with schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients.

Compared the responses of 4 groups of 20 patients on 12 scales of the MMPI according to age (18-28 yr. or 45-56 yr.) and diagnosis (schizophrenic or nonschizophrenic). Results indicate that although young schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics were distinguished on the basis of expected profile differences, no significant differences were found between the 2 older groups. It is suggested that the greater communality of experiences shared by older Ss tends to have a leveling effect on overall profile differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrusion of schizophrenics' idiosyncratic associations into their conceptual performance.

Instructed 19 schizophrenic and 7 nonschizophrenic inpatients to give 10 associations which were "names of things" to each of 3 stimulus words which were category names (e.g., fruit). After approximately 2 wk. without medications, Ss performed a concept identification task which involved signaling whether or not names of specific items belonged to a given category. Names to be identified included instances of the category (e.g., apple), similar things (e.g., carrot), and dissimilar things (e.g., football). Also included were idiosyncratic associations given by S to the category word and idiosyncratic associations given by a different S. Schizophrenics produced significantly more idiosyncratic associations than nonschizophrenics on the initial association test. On the conceptual task, schizophrenics significantly more often identified their own idiosyncratic associations to the category names as instances of the category than they did for idiosyncratic associations from another patient. It is suggested that at least some idiosyncratic intrusions in the conceptual performance of schizophrenics consist of preexisting associations, as predicted by response interference theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intellectual deficit in process and reactive schizophrenia and brain injury.

Compared the performance of reactive schizophrenics, process schizophrenics, and brain-damaged patients (n = 26) on the 11 subtests of the WAIS. It was found that both schizophrenic groups scored higher than brain-damaged Ss on the Block Design, Similarities, and Object Assembly tests, and that reactive schizophrenics were superior to the other 2 groups on the Digit Symbol test. No significant differences were found with the other 7 subtests, supporting the hypothesis that schizophrenic and brain-injured patients arrive at the some quantitative level of performance through the use of different abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are there two kinds of thinking in process and reactive schizophrenics?

Presents a tentative formulation suggesting qualitative differences between process and reactive schizophrenics. The cognitive deficit of reactive schizophrenics is due to fragmentation of relatively normal thinking under stress or during acute disturbance (i.e., on admission). The fragmentation is suggested to result from interference due to excessive responsiveness to external stimuli and task demands. The process schizophrenics are viewed as idiosyncratic (underdeveloped) in thinking, with their performance hampered by emotional withdrawal and disruption from internal stimuli. Interactions of the process-reactive dimension with stress conditions and institutionalization are inferred, since reactives' performance should vary with stress and time since admission, while processes' performance should remain consistently low. Results of 11 studies from the context of the position are presented. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of personality organization and production of associative sequences in process-reactive schizophrenia.

The 1st part of this study was essentially a replication of an earlier study which reported that genetic theory helped clarify the process-reactive dimension of schizophrenia. The Rorschach and Proverbs tests of 40 schizophrenic Ss were scored according to a genetic scoring system and correlated with Elgin Prognostic Scale scores which measured process-reactive status. Results were negative. Ss were also given 2 association tasks in which they were asked to name animals and persons they had known and several measures were obtained from these associative sequences. A significant difference between process and reactive groups was found on total number of associations on both tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpersonal distance of process and reactive schizophrenics.

Attempted to determine whether process and reactive schizophrenic males would use their interpersonal space differently from each other and from a normal control group. Data from 4 measures of interpersonal distance do not indicate that process schizophrenics were more interpersonally distant than reactive schizophrenics or normals, but suggest that the hypothesized differences in social adequacy between process and reactive patients and normals were not reflected in their use of interpersonal distance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric correlates of defensive style in process and reactive schizophrenics.

Starting with a pool of 47 male hospitalized schizophrenics for whom MMPIs were available, the Phillips Symptom Checklist was used to sort Ss along the process-reactive prognostic continuum. High positive correlations were found between ego defensive style and measures of psychotic disturbance. The more disturbed the S, the more attuned he was to external threat (perceptual sensitization). A smaller but significant relationship was detected between prognostic status and defensive style, with process types tending to be repressers and reactives tending to be sensitizers. Findings support the results of previous studies emphasizing the role of external threat as a strong determinant in schizophrenic perception as opposed to a pervasive unitary organic deficit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of judgmental impairment in paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

While it is known that schizophrenic patients perform more poorly than nonschizophrenics on most cognitive tasks, the specific nature of their impairment is unclear. Social judgment theory suggests both procedures and analyses that may clarify this situation. The present study evaluated the performance of schizophrenics on the judgment indices of task knowledge and cognitive control. 12 paranoid schizophrenics, 12 nonparanoids, and 12 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients completed 60 trials of a complex judgment task. Although all Ss were males, they were not controlled for age, education, or intelligence variables. Some Ss were rated with the Short Scale for Rating Paranoid Schizophrenia. Both groups of schizophrenics performed more poorly than normals, although only nonparanoids demonstrated significant impairment. Analysis of the component indices of performance indicated that the schizophrenic subgroups demonstrated contrasting forms of impairment. Paranoids evidenced poorer task knowledge than nonschizophrenics, whereas nonparanoids were impaired on control. Results may have relevance for identifying sources of cognitive dysfunction and for suggesting differential therapeutic strategies with these patients. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The self as a memory system: Powerful, but ordinary.

This article provides a research model of the process by which personal and social knowledge serves as a nucleus around which new knowledge is easily accumulated. In 4 experiments, Ss produced friends' names and then constructed sentences, each including a name together with an assigned (target) noun. Unexpected recall tests showed greatly superior memory for target nouns used in sentences with own friends' (self-generated) names vs. nouns used in sentences with others' friends' (other-generated) names. This "self-generation" effect was robustly observed across several procedural variations. Computer simulations of Experiments 3 and 4 supported the assumption that the self-generation procedure's effect on free recall of target nouns is mediated by retrieval of the self-generated names with which the nouns are sentence-paired. Together with other recent findings, these results indicate that powerful mnemonic effects associated with the self can be understood in terms of familiar, ordinary memory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preferred interpersonal distance as a function of locus of control orientation in chronic schizophrenics, nonschizophrenic patients, and normals.

Used a new instrument, the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance scale, to reassess the relationship between psychopathology and interpersonal distance. It was predicted that, since schizophrenics are more external than normals and since externality has been shown to be related to greater preferred distance from others, 20 female schizophrenics theoretically should prefer greater distance, in general, from interpersonal stimuli. 20 female nonschizophrenic patients were included as controls for the "externalizing" effects of hospitalization. Results show that schizophrenics were more external than nonschizophrenics, who were more external than 20 normals. Preferred distance from interpersonal stimuli as measured by the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance scale was greatest for schizophrenics and least for normals. Implications for future research and treatment of schizophrenic patients are discussed. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Span of apprehension in acute schizophrenics: Full-report technique.

Administered a full-report span of apprehension task to 30 hospitalized, acute, male, psychiatric patients (15 schizophrenics and 15 nonschizophrenics). Contrary to previous studies which had employed a partial-report task, no differences were found between these 2 groups. From the 2 sets of findings, an explanation of schizophrenic deficit in terms of iconic (unprocessed) memory decay or general slowness in information processing seems untenable. On the other hand, differences in processing strategies, difficulty in disengaging from irrelevant stimulus elements, and difficulty in applying less familiar instructions remain as alternative explanations. The notion that partial- vs. full-report performance differences should be attributed only to differences in short-term memory loss is rejected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social competence as a process-reactive dimension with schizophrenics, alcoholics, and normals.

Investigated the effect of the level of social competence on the performance of a paired discrimination task involving social censure cues for groups of male hospitalized schizophrenics, alcoholics, and normals. Previous studies finding differences between process and reactive schizophrenics had not controlled for the social competence level of the normal controls. 24 Ss from each diagnostic category were divided equally among groups of low, middle, and high social competence levels. Low social competence Ss discriminated maternal censure stimuli more poorly than middle or high socially competent groups. Psychiatric diagnosis had no significant effect on performance. Results do not support the social censure theory of schizophrenia and suggest that there has been confounding between social competence level and diagnosis in previous process-reactive research. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic thought disorders and impaired perspective.

Hypothesized that impaired perspective on the idiosyncracy of their own behavior is a central factor in the speech and thought pathology of schizophrenics and bizarre patients. 30 schizophrenic and 29 nonschizophrenic patients (mean age 25 yrs) rated the typicalness of their own and other patients' responses to proverbs. An index of perspective was calculated by correlating these ratings with trained judges' ratings of the idiosyncracy of the responses. Perspective on patients' own responses was significantly lower among schizophrenics and bizarre patients than among nonschizophrenics and nonbizarre patients. Poorer perspective occurred in patients' ratings of their own responses than in their ratings of other patients' responses. Results suggest that (a) loss of global perspective concerning the idiosyncracy of one's own verbalizations is closely associated with a tendency toward disordered speech. (b) Somewhat impaired perspective on what behavior is socially appropriate is common to all types of disturbed patients but is more severe in schizophrenics. (c) The impairment in schizophrenics is selective, involving difficulty in maintaining perspective on their own behavior, with better perspective when assessing others' behavior. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of delayed auditory feedback on process and reactive schizophrenic subjects.

A group of 20 male process schizophrenic, 20 male reactive schizophrenic, and 20 normal Ss read a passage aloud under delayed auditory feedback. S grouping, length of hospitalization, age, education, reading speed, and audiometric variables were controlled. It was theorized that normal Ss would be most affected by delayed auditory feedback, followed by reactive and then process Ss. Results do not support this hypothesis; after covarying for control reading time, the effect of diagnostic group disappeared. However, post hoc analysis revealed a subgroup of process patients more influenced by delayed auditory feedback than all other Ss. They were older, had shorter hospitalization, more education, lower control reading times, and higher process-reactive scores than the remaining process Ss. These patients are thought to constitute an "intermediate" schizophrenic group in their social organization and psychotic symptomatology. Thus, it is speculated that delayed auditory feedback could tap interactions between sensory and social variables in certain subsets of the schizophrenic population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overinclusion and concreteness among pathological groups.

To assess relative concreteness vs. overinclusiveness, the Revised Inclusion Test, based on Epstein's measure, was administered to 40 tuberculous, 40 brain-damaged, 30 process schizophrenic, and 15 reactive schizophrenic hospitalized veterans. The groups were equivalent in mean education, intelligence, and length of hospitalization, but the tuberculous and brain-damaged patients averaged 8 yr. older than the schizophrenics. The results indicated that the brain-damaged and process schizophrenics performed more in a concrete manner than did the reactive schizophrenics or tuberculous, but, contrary to hypothesis, the groups were not differentiated on relative overinclusiveness. It was suggested that in studies in which schizophrenics overincluded many options, the concepts to which the overincluded elements were added may have also involved an omitted option and, were such the case, those schizophrenics should have been described as concrete rather than as overinclusive. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual closure in schizophrenia.

The concept of closure has been more frequently investigated using normal Ss than psychotic patients. The present study utilizes schizophrenics and compares their performance with a comparable group of hospitalized nonpsychotic Ss. Taylor's (1960) test of closure was used. Tendency to closure tended to be lower for the schizophrenics than for the nonschizophrenics, with schizophrenics on drugs (and, hence, manifesting a greater degree of personality disorganization than the other schizophrenic Ss) showing no tendency towards closure. The results are related to 2 theories of schizophrenia, one which involves a deficit in the energizing or arousal systems in the brain, and the other, an inability to maintain a set in the way normal Ss do. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4JQ31S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)