Performance of good and poor premorbid male schizophrenics as a function of paternal vs. maternal censure.

The hypothesis that interference in schizophrenic performance depends on an interaction between level of premorbid adjustment, paternal vs. maternal source of stimulation, and censuring vs. approval content was tested. 4 tape recordings were played for 80 good and 80 poor premorbid adjustment schizophrenics—father-son censure, father-son approval, mother-son censure, and mother-son approval. Performance was measured by a change from a pre- to post-Digit-Symbol test. The hypothesis was confirmed—good premorbids show interference with paternal censure and poor premorbids with maternal censure. A comparison group of 80 normals did not show this kind of interaction. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors in the motor behavior of functional psychotics.

The author presents a continuation of a research project (see 32: 1873) which suggested that reactive inhibition developed to a greater extent in schizophrenics than normals. The initial task (depressing a key in response to the appearance of a light on a panel) was altered to permit the possibility of quicker response rates, and a group of depressives was added for comparison. The results of the follow-up study are shown to continue to support the theory re: reactive inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factor analytic investigation of personality variables and reminiscence in motor learning.

The effect of personality type upon learning and reminiscence was studied. Personality factors (as measured by the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, 1949) were assessed in relationship to pursuit-motor learning. The results indicated that extraversion appears to be related to performance in the motor task as well as reminiscence, but that the relationship, as found in this study by these methods, is not large. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4CF98B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal affect and conformity behavior in schizophrenics.

A group of 28 schizophrenics Ss was equated with a group of 28 normal Ss on the factors of age and education. Each S was then tested as to the number of affectual relationships he produced on 4 Thematic Apperception Test cards. A measure of his conformity to social influence was obtained by a measure of his behavior in a group situation in which he was asked to compare the length of lines in an optical illusion study. An analysis of the data by means of multiple X2 design showed a significant interaction among all 3 factors: mental health, conformity, and affect. The factors of mental health and conformity interacted to a greater extent than did any other 2 factors taken together. Conformity and affect were more closely related to the factor of mental health than they were to each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social behavior of chronic schizophrenics in supervised and unsupervised work groups.

Small groups of chronic schizophrenics worked at policing a dormitory under 1 of 2 conditions of staff supervision: Maximal (active leadership) and Minimal (once the tasks were set patients were left to their own devices). Each group was composed of 5 patients. 3 groups worked under each supervisory condition. The groups were matched for age, length of hospitalization, education, and general verbal behavior of the patients. Measurements of performance and social behavior were daily over a 7-week period. The less supervised group showed signs of cohesiveness and lessened dependency on the staff member for decisions, with some indication of increased job performance. All groups showed decreased verbal interaction over time. Although the use of verbal communication was avoided whenever possible during the experimental period, the Ss showed signs of the formation of group structures and task-related roles were observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships among personality variables, kinesthetic figure afteraffect, and reminiscence in motor learning.

The relationship among kinesthetic figural aftereffect (KAE), reminiscence in motor learning (Rem), MMPI data, psychiatric diagnosis, age and vocabulary were studied in psychotic and nonpsychotic VA patients. KAE was found to be negatively related to Rem, but there was no significant relationship with MMPI and psychiatric diagnostic data; Rem was found to be positively related with MMPI and psychiatric diagnosis. It was assumed that part of the explanation for whatever relationships existed between the variables might be found in neural processes. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HJ87M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social motivational variables on choice reaction time of schizophrenics.

The effect of 3 kinds of instructions on the reactions times (RT) of schizophrenics was studied. The instruction included nonevaluative and evaluative ("You've done very well" or "You haven't done very well") statements and referred to performance on an apparatus which required S to depress the appropriate key indicating which of two lights had been flashed. The performance of the schizophrenic Ss were compared to that by hospitalized nonpsychiatric patients. In general, the schizophrenic's overall RT was slower than the controls. In both groups, decrease in RT was noted for "failure" instructions, nonevaluative, and "success" in that order. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3JQ24G. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of "social censure" and "social approval" on the psychomotor performance of schizophrenics.

A study in the tradition of demonstrating the modifiability of the behavior of schizophrenics through information feedback, e.g., rewards, punishment, or information requality of his performance. Schizophrenics were either told nothing about their performance, i.e., reaction time (control); told they were doing poorly (verbal censure); presented with a tone indicating slowness (neutral censure); or were given approval. The patients profited (reaction times increased) from the informational feedback under both conditions of censure, significantly more than with no or "approval" feedback. Results were compared with previous findings. 15 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative interference in the verbal learning performance of schizophrenics and normals.

Groups of recently admitted VA schizophrenics and VA nonpsychiatric patients (17 per group) were given 1 of 2 paired-associate lists. The experimental list consisted of pairs in which each stimulus had a minimal assocative connection with its response but was highly associated with another response on the list, as judged by word association norms. Comparisons of performance on this list with that on a parallel control list indicated that the presence of the cross-associates resulted in significant performance decrement (p     

Anxiety and avoidance behavior in schizophrenics in response to parental figures.

"Thematic productions in groups of Good and Poor premorbid schizophrenics were analyzed in terms of the relative amounts of anxiety and avoidance related to cards representing parent-child relationships. Three hypotheses were specific… . Poor premorbid patients were expected to produce more anxiety related imagery in response to the mother than the father figure, while Goods were expected to show the reverse effect; Poors were expected to be more avoidant in response to both parental figures; and the pattern of avoidance behavior between groups was expected to differ. The first two hypotheses were supported." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between institutionalization, other demographic variables, and the structure of intelligence in chronic schizophrenics.

A factor analytic investigation was carried out studying the relationship between length of institutionalization and several other premorbid-demographic variables and the structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) in a sample of chronic schizophrenics. Only 3 of these background variables were related to WAIS subtests. 2, education and aging, differentiated within this sample the same way as in the general population: i.e., education was associated with generally higher performance on all subtests while aging was selectively related to lowered psychomotor and memory/attentional functioning. The 3rd, length of institutionalization, showed negative relationship with Comprehension score, suggesting some impairment in social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of anxiety and two kinds of motivating instructions on verbal learning.

The "experiment studied the effects of anxiety (Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale scores) and differential motivating instructions on serial learning and retention of nonsense syllables by college students. Anxiety, motivating instructions and the interaction of these two variables were found to have significant effects on learning. Only anxiety had a significant effect when retention was measured 24 hours later." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complexity of response as a factor in the vocabulary performance of schizophrenics.

"Equated pairs of schizophrenics and attendants were tested on two tasks differing in the complexity of the responses required. The performance of the schizophrenic group was significantly poorer than that of the attendants where the more complex response was involved. Where the less complex response was involved, the groups did not differ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of affective tone on the verbal behavior of process and reactive schizophrenics.

To test further the hypothesis that schizophrenics, described as "process" or "reactive," would demonstrate differential responsiveness to affective stimuli, Ss were shown slides projecting a verb (some affective-toned, some neutral) and 4 pronouns (him, she, they, I) and asked to make sentences using the verbs and 1 of the pronouns. It was hypothesized that avoidance of the pronoun "I" and retarded reaction time, when affectively-toned verbs were utilized, would distinguish the performance of the 2 groups: The results confirmed the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interference transfer paradigms and the performance of schizophrenics and controls.

A group of chronic schizophrenics (n = 18) and a group of control Ss (hospital employees, n = 18) were contrasted on the A-C and A-Br negative transfer paradigms. As expected, both groups yielded negative transfer on both paradigms, with significantly greater negative transfer for A-Br relative to A-C in the schizophrenic group only (p     

Social and psychological variables in learning Hebrew.

Attitudes towards the social group employing the language, reason for studying the language, and intelligence were posited as parameters affecting the learning of a 2nd language. The investigation focused on Jewish 8th- and 9th-grade students learning Hebrew. The results indicated that ability and attitude facilitated learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocabulary performance of short-term and long-term schizophrenics.

"The following three measures of vocabulary performance varying in sensitivity were obtained from groups of short-term schizophrenics, long-term schizophrenics, and normals equated for art and education: gesticulation (nonverbal), conventional vocabulary achievement, and level of verbal communication. No differences were found between the short-term schizophrenics and the normals of any of the measures. The long-term schizophrenics were significantly lower than normals and short-term schizophrenics on all of the measures. The decrement on gesticulation for the long-term schizophrenics was significantly less than that for the other measures." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsiveness of chronic schizophrenics to the social behavior of others in a meaningful task situation.

In this experiment 60 schizophrenics were given the task of stamping a number of greetings to accompany gifts. Instructions to hurray or to be cautious induced reliably differing rates of responding. In order to test the hypotheses concerning the social behavior of the schizophrenic, pairs of Ss were brought together to work in the same room—1 responding slowly and the other rapidly. As a consequence of being in the presence of another patient working at the same task both partners increased their rote of responding, indicating the effect of social facilitation. When the patients were given role instructions with relation to one another their rates of responding converged. Although these changes in behavior took place none of the 22 pairs of Ss (11 in co-working, 11 in role-related conditions) discussed the discrepancy or change in behavior. These results confirmed the hypothesis that schizophrenics will exhibit appropriate social motivation and responsiveness when behaving in a meaningful situation which does not depend on the use of language or complex cognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis, task-motivating instructions, and learning performance.

40 Ss, including 30 who had been previously rated as suggestible and 10 as nonsuggestible, were pretested and then retested on equivalent forms of 3 learning tasks: digit symbol substitution, memory for words, and abstract reasoning. All Ss received the pretests in the same way. The 30 suggestible Ss were retested under 1 of the following 3 experimental treatments with 10 Ss assigned at random to each treatment: task-motivating instructions, hypnotic induction procedure with task-motivating instructions, and control. The 10 nonsuggestible Ss were retested under a task-motivating-instructions treatment. Analyses of covariance indicated that (a) task-motivating instructions given alone or following a hypnotic induction procedure did not significantly affect performance on the memory for words or abstract reasoning tasks; and (b) task-motivating instructions produced a comparable enhancement of performance on the digit symbol substitution task in hypnotized and nonhypnotized Ss and in suggestible and nonsuggestible Ss. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contrasting patterns of fantasy and motility in Irish and Italian schizophrenics.

Several hypotheses concerning differences in fantasy and motor activity of schizophrenics of Irish and Italian descent were developed on the basis of anthropological evaluation of cultural patterns and child-rearing practices. Schizophrenics of Irish descent were expected to be more given to imaginative behavior and motor control when compared with those of Italian descent. Psychological instruments used were the Rorschach, Barron's Movement-Threshold Inkblots, TAT, Porteus Mazes, tests of time estimation, motor inhibition, admission-denial of frustration, and ward behavior ratings. 60 male, veteran patients were used as Ss, one-half of Irish and one-half of Italian descent. The results appeared to support the hypothesis of persistent differences in motor and fantasy activity. Implications for review of psychiatric nosology, personality research, and interdisciplinary collaboration were suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)