Attention-related effects on somatosensory evoked potentials in college students at high risk for psychopathology.

Determined whether a deviation from normal amplitude in the evoked potential in response to attention directed to a stimulus would occur in 10 undergraduates with high scores on a measure of physical anhedonia (AN) and 9 undergraduates with a high score on a measure of perceptual aberration (PA). Ss were compared with 10 control undergraduates and 7 schizophrenics (mean age 25.6 yrs). Previous studies have shown low amplitudes for schizophrenics. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were recorded from 5 scalp locations while Ss counted stimuli to 1 of 4 randomly stimulated fingers; SEPs to counted stimuli contained the attention-related late positive wave (P400). P400 amplitudes of AN Ss were lower than those of normal controls, whereas P400 amplitudes of PA Ss and their matched controls did not differ. P400 amplitudes of AN Ss did not differ significantly from those of schizophrenics, although AN means were somewhat higher. P400 amplitude may provide information that is different from the associated behavioral response and a more sensitive indication of central mechanism dysfunction. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information processing for masked and unmasked stimuli in schizophrenia and old age.

Compared 36 hospitalized schizophrenics, depressives, and normal elderly Ss (mean ages 24.7, 31.8, and 67.5 yrs) on tasks involving the identification of briefly exposed masked and unmasked stimuli. The critical stimulus duration (CSD), defined as the minimum exposure required to consistently identify a target stimulus without a mask, was obtained for each S. The target stimulus was followed by a pattern mask. Masking functions were estimated at 3 levels of exposure duration, including the S's CSD. At each exposure duration the mask followed at 4 interstimulus intervals. The elderly required longer durations for criterion identification of unmasked stimuli than the other Ss. For masked stimuli, however, the elderly did not differ from depressed inpatients, and both of these groups exceeded the schizophrenics when the test stimulus was exposed at Ss' CSD. Results indicate that when the initial availability of input information is controlled, schizophrenics show a mask-induced deficit relative to depressed inpatients, but the elderly do not. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming effects in schizophrenia: Associative interference and facilitation as a function of visual context.

Irrelevant stimuli that flank a fixated target may cause either facilitation or interference with target classification. 20 schizophrenic patients, 20 depressed control patients, and 20 normal control Ss were compared on a flanker priming task that involved the linear display of a target surrounded by 2 flanking letters or digits. Choice reaction time (RT) between letter and digit targets was examined as a function of flanker condition and onset asynchrony between flankers and target. Facilitative priming occurred only with prior exposure of flankers compatible with the response required and was greater in degree with schizophrenic and depressed than with normal Ss. Interference from flankers incompatible with the response required occurred less among schizophrenics than among other groups. Several different processes may be involved in the inhibition of irrelevant information by schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic deficit and its relation to social motivation.

A study investigating the effects of praise and encouragement on the performance of schizophrenics was carried out with 48 normal and 48 hospitalized schizophrenics, the latter being drawn equally from open and closed wards. All Ss performed a simple motor task, those in the experimental groups receiving verbal praise and encouragement from E after each trial and those in the control groups no evaluative comments. The results indicated that all experimental groups performed better than their controls but that the amount of improvement did not differ among the diagnostic groups. In absolute performance level, normals were significantly superior to the schizophrenics but the 2 schizophrenics groups did not differ significantly from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response to cutaneous pain in mental hospital patients.

Conducted an experiment to determine how warmth detection thresholds (WDTs), pain thresholds (PTs), and pain tolerance thresholds (PTOs) to radiant heat differed between groups of process schizophrenics (G2), reactive schizophrenics (G3), nonschizophrenic (G4), and normal (G1) S groups. 15 males from each of these categories served as Ss. The manipulated independent variable was skin temperature. The dependent variables were verbal reports of WDT, PT, PTO, and pupillary response. G1 and G3 Ss had significantly lower mean PTs and PTOs than G2 Ss. Significantly fewer G2 and G3 Ss than G1 and G4 Ss reported PT and PTO. The mean pupillary responses of G2 Ss were significantly smaller than those of G1 and G3 Ss at WDT, PT, and PTO. It is concluded that (a) chronic institutionalized psychiatric patients display weaker reactions to potentially harmful stimuli, and (b) a dissociation between autonomic and verbal responses may occur in process schizophrenics at higher than moderate levels of noxious stimulation. (43 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in perceptual asymmetries with clinical improvement of depression and schizophrenia.

16 depressed patients, 16 schizophrenic patients, and 16 normal controls (20–50 yrs old) were given 2 dichotic listening tests and 2 cognitive tests at intervals ranging from patients' initial hospitalization to recovery. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that severely depressed Ss failed to obtain normal ear-superiority in either dichotic test; however, normal superiorities emerged with recovery from depression. Schizophrenic Ss initially failed to show normal right-ear superiority on a dichotic-words test but did obtain the expected left-ear advantage on a dichotic-chords test. Following treatment, schizophrenics shifted from a left-ear to a right-ear advantage in dichotic chords and also increased (although not significantly) their right-ear advantage in dichotic words. Both patient groups showed normal word-fluency but impaired spatial ability, which did not improve with recovery. Results suggest that both depression and schizophrenia are associated with a breakdown in the process of interhemispheric inhibition that mediates perceptual asymmetry. In depression, treatment returned Ss' normal patterns of asymmetry, whereas in schizophrenia, treatment created an abnormal pattern of asymmetry that may have reflected the allocation of both verbal and nonverbal material to the left hemisphere. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of the emotional responsiveness of sensitizers and repressors to social stimuli.

Presented TAT-like stimuli of positive, negative, and neutral affect to 30 sensitizers, 30 intermediates, and 30 repressors (all male undergraduates who had been given the Repression-Sensitization Scale) to test H. M. Lefcourt's (see record 1966-13194-001) formulation that sensitizers positively value emotional expression and repressors devalue such expression. Contrary to the expectation based on an extension of Lefcourt's model, sensitizers did not significantly differ from repressors on the number of positive, negative, or total affect words in their stories. His model appears consistent only with the responses of Ss to negative affective stimuli and not with their responses to positive affective stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial adjustment of adolescent children of a depressed, arthritic, or normal parent.

Examined the joint effects of having a parent with a psychological or physical disability and stressful life events on the mental health of 3 groups of adolescents: 16 adolescent children of a depressed parent, 16 adolescent children of a parent with rheumatoid arthritis, and 16 adolescent children of parents free from psychological or physical disability. Ss were asked to complete a battery of assessments, including the SCL-90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Family Environment Scale, and scales assessing life events and satisfaction with school. It was found that, in contrast to the normal group, Ss with arthritic parents reported lower self-esteem, whereas Ss with depressed parents reported lower self-esteem and more symptomatology. However, the 2 risk groups did not differ in terms of mental health or family and school adjustment. Both negative and positive life events were strongly related to poorer adjustment, but only for Ss with depressed and arthritic parents. There was a significant interaction effect of parental disability (depressed vs normal) and negative life events on symptomatology, with the Ss with depressed parents who experienced few negative life events reporting symptom levels equivalent to that of the normal group. Within-group analyses revealed that a positive familial social climate was related to better adjustment among all 3 groups: satisfactory school involvements were related to better adjustment among the depressed-parent and normal groups. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delusional thinking and the induction process in schizophrenia.

A perceptual information-processing task was presented to minimally delusional schizophrenics, maximally delusional schizophrenics, and normal Ss. The point of emergence of their 1st response was utilized as an index of the degree to which they tended to structure ambiguous stimuli on the basis of inadequate premises. The hypothesis that the 2 schizophrenic groups would differ on the experimental task was not verified. The majority of schizophrenic Ss, however, responded either too early or too late, if the mean score of the normal group is regarded as the optimal response level. Additional data were gathered in an attempt to uncover historical or behavioral correlates of these test differences. The only difference found was in educational level. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narrowed focus and dissociative experiences in a community sample of experienced video lottery gamblers.

Problem (20 Ss) and occasional (22 Ss) video lottery terminal (VLT) gamblers were compared on speed of reaction to irrelevant light stimuli on a nongambling baseline measure and while playing on a VLT, on feelings of dissociation when gambling, and on general dissociative experiences. Measures included the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. The groups did not differ on DES scores. Problem gamblers reported more dissociative-like experiences when gambling than occasional gamblers. For the problem gamblers only the speed of response to irrelevant light stimuli when playing on the VLT was dependent on the order of task presentation. These findings suggest problem VLT gamblers focus intensely on VLT play but are capable of changing their focus if the task requires it. (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)     

Time perception and conflict arousal in schizophrenia.

The hypothesis that schizophrenics would exhibit greater distortion in estimation of duration time for stimuli relevant to their major conflicts than for other stimuli was investigated. 3 groups, each with 16 Ss who were homogeneous with respect to experiencing primary conflicts with either aggression, sex, or dependency, were formed. A factorial Latin square design was used in which Ss estimated stimuli durations following the tachistoscopic presentation at 4 exposure times of 4 pictorial stimuli, 1 of which represented their major conflict area. Results demonstrated that greatest distortions occurred for conflict pictures at the .001 level. Distortion elicitation of the aggression stimulus was greater than other stimuli at .001 for the combined schizophrenics, an effect not found with normal control Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy changes in depression and schizophrenia.

Does the learned helplessness model of depression apply to clinically depressed patients and is it specific to depression? Changes in expectancy following success and failure in skill and chance tasks were assessed for depressed nonschizophrenics (unipolar depressives), depressed schizophrenics, nondepressed schizophrenics, and normal controls (32 Ss, aged 18–50 yrs). Unipolar depressives showed smaller changes in expectancy of future success after failure in the skill task than did the controls and both schizophrenic groups. Depressed schizophrenics did not show smaller expectancy changes than nondepressed schizophrenics. The learned helplessness model has been tested primarily in populations with subclinical depression; the present results provide partial support for learned helplessness as a model of one type of severe clinical depression and suggest that learned helplessness is not a general feature of psychopathology. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal communication deficits and response to performance feedback in depression.

Evaluated aspects of recent behavioral and cognitive theories of depression. Social-skill concepts were conceived as involving 2 component processes, termed receptive and expressive communication, and the ability of depressed Ss to engage in these behaviors was studied within a nonverbal communication paradigm. Three groups of 10 females—depressed, psychiatric control, and normal control—had their facial expressions videotaped while exposed to a differential classical conditioning procedure, with pictorial stimuli following 1 CS, auditory stimuli following a 2nd CS, and a neutral event following a 3rd CS. In a 2nd session, the Ss observed the videotapes of other Ss, one from each diagnostic group, and judged which type of conditioning trial the observed S was undergoing, in addition to predicting their anticipated performance prior to each set of judgments. Results indicate that the depressed Ss were the most difficult to judge correctly; this deficit did not seem to be attributable to idiosyncratic response predispositions on the part of the depressives. This finding is interpreted as consistent with P. M. Lewinsohn's (see PA, Vol 53:7587) theory. Predictions of performance did not differ significantly between groups, failing to support one aspect of A. T. Beck's (1967) theory. For all groups, changes in Ss' ratings of their anticipated performance were highly correlated with the discrepancy between predicted and actual performance on previous trials. This finding is contrary to a prediction derived from M. E. Seligman's (see record 1973-06430-001) model of depression. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organization in memory: A comparison of psychotics and normals.

15 acute schizophrenics, 11 acute psychotic depressives, and 15 normal Ss completed a multitrial free-recall task. The 30 to-be-remembered nouns from 6 conceptual categories were printed, 1 on each card. During self-paced presentation, the nouns were sorted into S-determined categories. Patient recall was inferior. The extent to which successive categorizations of the words during sorting were similar and reflected norms of category membership was measured. No significant group differences were realized. Patient recall clustering, defined both by norms of category membership and subjective sorting categorizations, was inferior. On no measure did schizophrenics and depressives differ. Results indicate that with lists of relatively high semantic content, the recall impairment displayed by schizophrenics and depressives stems mainly from an inability to completely use perceived structuring of the list during recall. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive appraisal of stress and schizophrenic subtype.

Studied differences in patterns of cognitive appraisal and response to stress in a total of 19 male nonparanoid process schizophrenics and paranoid reactive schizophrenics. Paranoids evidenced greater heart-rate response to stress stimuli while rating the stress categories as less disturbing than did nonparanoid Ss. Comparison of autonomic measures and verbal ratings of the slides indicated that paranoids underrated their autonomic response to stress stimuli while nonparanoid Ss overrated it. Results suppport the clinical literature on defensive styles of the 2 groups. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-sectional study of emotion recognition in schizophrenics.

48 hospitalized schizophrenics and 48 nonhospitalized normals were administered a test of emotion recognition that included photographs depicting facial expressions of 8 emotions. Ss were then given the Vocabulary test of the Wide Range Achievement Test. The groups were subdivided by age: children (8–22 yrs), adolescents (13–29 yrs), and adults (20–50 yrs). Patients and normals were matched on age, sex, and educational level. Normals were significantly better than schizophrenics at identifying all of the emotions, and this difference held across sex and age groups. Schizophrenics and normals did not differ in the types of errors they made. Findings are discussed in light of theories regarding social and emotional functioning in schizophrenics. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions of test-anxious children.

Compared the cognitions of 294 low, moderate, and high test-anxious (the Test Anxiety Scale for Children) 5th and 6th graders in an analog test situation. High test-anxious Ss reported significantly more task-debilitating cognitions than either moderate- or low-anxious Ss, including negative evaluations and off-task thoughts. High test-anxious Ss also reported fewer positive evaluations than low test-anxious Ss, whereas moderately anxious Ss did not differ significantly from either extreme group. It was unexpected that the moderate- and high-anxious groups reported significantly more on-task thoughts than the low-anxious group and did not significantly differ from each other. Both test anxiety and cognitions showed significant although modest relations with actual task performance after the effects of ability were partialled out. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between memories of their parents' behavior and psychodiagnosis in psychiatrically disturbed soldiers.

Presence or absence of psychopathology and psychodiagnosis were investigated in their relationships to adult Ss' memories of their parents' child-rearing behavior on Schaefer's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (RPBI). Ss were 80 neuropsychiatric soldier patients (24 schizophrenics, 20 neurotics, 36 character and behavior disorders) and 117 normal Ss. Normal Ss did not remember their mothers significantly differently than did neuropsychiatric Ss, but did remember their fathers to have been relatively more supportive, giving, and encouraging of intellectual and social growth than neuropsychiatric patients remembered their fathers as having been. Within the neuropsychiatric sample, neurotics remembered their parents' behavior more favorably than did character and behavior disorders or schizophrenics. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)