Responses to "neutral" pronoun presentations and the development of sex-biased responding.

Investigated whether 36 kindergarten and 36 1st-grade children, like college students, would give male-biased responses to a "he" presentation and examined how Ss would respond to the use of "they" and "he or she" pronoun presentations. The effects of pronoun use on memory were also investigated, as were possible sex differences in responding. Each S was assigned to 1 of 3 pronoun presentation groups, each of which contained an equal number of girls and boys. Ss in the different groups listened to the exact same story except that Group I Ss heard the pronoun "they" used throughout the story, Group 2 Ss heard "she" or "he" used throughout the story, and Group 3 Ss heard the pronoun "he" throughout the story. Ss were then asked to retell the story and were shown pictures of a boy and a girl and asked to indicate which one the story was about. Results support the pronomial dominance theory of pronoun functioning for young children. Results also support the hypothesis that boys initially use a self-imaging response to neutral presentations. The time of transition away from this response was identified as the 1st-grade level. There was no indication that kindergarten or 1st-grade girls use the self-imagining approach. The "they" presentation appeared to be the most neutral. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of biological and social motivation on schizophrenic reaction time.

Reaction times of schizophrenic and normal Ss were determined under instructions to respond as fast as possible to a buzzer signal. Half of the Ss were retested immediately under the same conditions, while the other half were shocked on the responding finger simultaneously with the buzzer. Schizophrenics' RTs improved significantly under shock conditions. Disturbances in schizophrenic RT are "partially accounted for by defective social motivation and… a biological deficit may be involved in the reactions of more chronic schizophrenics." 21 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit learning and generalization of the "mere exposure" effect.

Reports 2 experiments that examined the generalization of the "mere exposure" effect. Both experiments demonstrated that positive affect, produced by repeated viewing of a set of stimuli, generalizes to previously unseen stimuli that are similar to the exposed stimuli along certain abstract dimensions. Exp I, with 82 Ss, used letter strings constructed according to a complex rule system. Positive affect attributable to exposure generalized to novel letter strings that obeyed the rule system. Affective generalization was related to Ss' judgments of whether the novel strings obeyed the rule system. Exp II (40 Ss), in which the stimuli were complex visual patterns created by distorting standard forms, yielded an orderly gradient of affective generalization to novel patterns at varying levels of distortion. Results indicate that the exposure effect behaves in a manner similar to "implicit" concept learning and rule induction. The generalization techniques developed here provide a novel method for studying the affective processing of stimuli. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional experience and expression in schizophrenia and depression.

Examined the emotional responses of schizophrenic, depressed, and normal Ss and whether differences in the emotional responding of these groups depended on how emotional responses were elicited or measured. 23 blunted and 20 nonblunted schizophrenics, 17 unipolar depressed Ss, and 20 normal Ss were exposed to a series of affect-eliciting stimuli. The stimuli varied in valence (positive vs negative) and in level of cognitive demand. Ss reported their subjective experiences, and their facial expressions were videotaped. Blunted schizophrenics were the least facially expressive, although their reported subjective experiences did not differ from those of the other groups. The nonblunted schizophrenics were more responsive than the depressed Ss to the positive stimuli, although the 2 groups did not differ in their clinical ratings of affective flatness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Size estimation, perceptual recognition, and cardiac rate response in acute paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

Studied perceptual response styles of 8 paranoid and 8 nonparanoid schizophrenics in a VA hospital using size estimation and perceptual recognition tasks. Eight alcoholic patients were used as controls. Only acute, actively psychotic, unmedicated schizophrenics were included. Heart rate responses were monitored during the performance of the tasks. Psychological task performance and concomitant physiological responses were analyzed and integrated. The size estimation results replicate earlier findings. During the perceptual recognition task, the paranoid Ss showed a unique "jump to conclusions" response strategy. Early responding and response rigidity was not found to be specific to paranoid schizophrenics. All schizophrenic Ss showed more large-magnitude heart rate response during both tasks. The relationship between perceptual responses and physiological responses differed among the groups. (45 ref) (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)     

Meaning dimensions and male-female voice perception in schizophrenics with good and poor premorbid adjustment.

This study explored certain aspects of perceptual distortion in schizophrenia. Among schizophrenics with a good premorbid adjustment, schizophrenics with a poor premorbid adjustment, and normals, auditory perception of spoken material was compared as a function of (a) sex of voice and (b) dimensions of meaning. The Ss listened to successive presentations of a recorded spoken word, mixed with decreasing amounts of masking noise, until their recognition threshold were established. Schizophrenics with poor premorbid adjustment responding to the female voice had significantly higher thresholds than those responding to the male voice. This finding did not occur in schizophrenics with good premorbid adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prediction of patterns of schizophrenic error resulting from semantic generalization.

Conducted a study with 2 groups of 26 male schizophrenics and normal psychiatric aides (mean age = 45 yr) to test predictions derived from a theory of disordered thought by L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, and G. A. Miller (see PA, Vol. 39:10059) concerning the conditions under which schizophrenic Ss exhibit excessive generalization errors. The theory assumes that both the schizophrenic and normal are biased toward responding to words in terms of the words' strongest aspects of meaning, but that schizophrenics are more strongly biased toward this than are normals. Ss were instructed to indicate by pressing buttons marked "yes" and "no" whether or not test words presented in serial fashion on a memory drum had appeared on a previous training list. "Yes" responses to test words not appearing on a previous training list were the measures of generalization errors. The predictions were supported by the finding that schizophrenics made significantly more errors to words on the test list that shared strong meaning responses (p     

Social participation in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of chronic schizophrenics.

Responsiveness of socially withdrawn, regressed chronic schizophrenics to changes in the characteristics of their social environment was examined. It was hypothesized that withdrawn, regressed, hospitalized patients would participate more effectively in problem-solving groups that were heterogeneous in the activity level and "mental health" of its members than in homogeneous groups. 16 Ss rated as withdrawn and regressed and 16 active, improved Ss solved group problems in a homogeneous and heterogeneous group context. Ratings by independent judges, employing a scale devised for this purpose, indicated that both withdrawn and active chronic schizophrenics participate significantly more effectively in a heterogeneous group problem-solving situation than in a homogeneous setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaction-time crossover in preselected schizotypic subjects.

Investigated whether evidence of RT crossover could be obtained in nonpsychotic, schizotypic Ss. Two groups of male undergraduates (N?=?33) were defined as schizotypic based on their high scores on either the Perceptual Aberration or Physical Anhedonia Scales. Schizotypic Ss were compared to 18 male normal controls using the "embedded set" procedure of A. Bellissimo and R. A. Steffy (see record 1973-09283-001). This procedure has frequently been used to demonstrate crossover among process schizophrenics. Both groups of schizotypic Ss showed evidence of RT crossover relative to control Ss, with the strongest pattern produced by the perceptual-aberration Ss. Results support the utility of this procedure in the study of psychological vulnerability and provide further evidence that Ss identified by high scores on these psychometric instruments may represent groups of psychosis-prone young adults. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between levels of arousal and responsiveness among schizophrenic and normal subjects.

Hypothesized that tonic arousal level, as measured by the basal skin resistance level, would be an important parameter influencing psychophysiological responsiveness to discrete stimuli. 32 schizophrenic Ss and 32 normal Ss were divided into subgroups on the basis of their resting skin resistance levels. Ss were then given 30 mild, discrete auditory stimuli, and their psychogalvanic responsiveness was assessed. The parameter of tonic arousal level accounted for the majority of variability, while psychiatric status was a negligible factor. In general, Ss manifesting high tonic arousal responded more rapidly, with more GSRs to discrete tone stimuli, with more nonspecific GSRs, and with greater amplitude of change than did Ss with low tonic arousal. Results of other studies are discussed within the framework of these findings, and it is suggested that controlling for this parameter may serve to reduce heterogenity of results in future research. (46 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of speech in the inhibitory control of motoric behavior of schizophrenic patients.

Investigated the conditions under which speech influences the speed of a tapping response in 48 schizophrenics and 48 nonschizophrenics. Ss verbalized 3 words ("goads") under varied pretask instructions (minimal and slow instructions) and 2 sources of delivery (self-delivered "internal" verbalizations and other-delivered "external" verbalizations). Results indicate that all groups inhibited speed of tapping for a slow instruction. The schizophrenics under the internal goad condition inhibited response as well as the control group; under the external goad condition these patients were less able to inhibit response. For the minimal instruction condition the schizophrenics responded to the meaning inherent in the goads faster and slower for the internal but not the external goad condition. The converse was true for the control group. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of intramodal and crossmodal stimulus diversity on the reaction time of chronic schizophrenics.

Compared 16 chronic schizophrenics (mean age 42.7 yrs), 16 alcoholic inpatients (mean age 37.6 yrs), and 16 healthy Ss (mean age 36.9 yrs) with respect to their RTs to stimuli from 1 (ipsimodal condition) or 2 (crossmodal condition) modalities. In the ipsimodal condition, a low-pitched sound presented to one ear and a high-pitched sound presented to the other ear served as imperative stimuli, alternating randomly. In the crossmodal condition, a light or a sound was presented. In responding to the sound imperative stimuli, schizophrenics were more retarded than were comparison groups when the preceding imperative stimulus was a light or a different sound, relative to when it was the same sound. With the inclusion of warning stimuli of either modality into the crossmodal condition, both comparison groups were more retarded than were schizophrenics when the preceding imperative stimulus was a light, relative to when it was the same sound. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Song sequence discrimination in the black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus).

14 captive black-capped chickadees were presented with normal and altered versions of their species-specific "fee bee" song to determine how note type, number, and sequence affect recognition. Perch changes and vocalizations given in response to playback did not differ reliably as a function of song type, whereas latency to 1st vocalization after playback did. In Exp I, using 2-note songs, Ss vocalized sooner to songs beginning with fee than with bee and to fee bee than to fee fee. In Exp II, Ss were presented with single-note, normal, and 3-note songs each consisting of a single-note type. Habituation slowed responding to altered songs but not to fee bee over 3 test sessions. Results suggest that Ss distinguished (a) single fees and 3-note songs from normal song, (b) single fees from single bees, (c) 2-note songs from 3-note songs, and (d) normal song from altered songs. It is concluded that the internal representation of conspecific song in the chickadee distinguishes between fee and bee notes, contains information about note order, and is sensitive to note number. The pattern of responses is consistent with a model of recognition based on note-by-note integration of individual decisions about song structure. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies in efficiency: Semantic generalization in schizophrenia.

This study examined the hypothesis that schizophrenics would generalize a conditioned GSR response relatively more to the homonym of a CS and relatively less to the synonym than normals. The specific prediction was that the difference in the magnitude of response to synonyms and homonyms (RS - RH) would be greater for normals than for schizophrenics. The Ss were 16 normals and 16 chronic schizophrenics. The synonyms elicited a larger response than the homonyms with the majority of normal Ss. The opposite results were obtained with the schizophrenics. An analysis of variance clearly supported the hypothesized interaction between the "normal-schizophrenic" variable and generalization to synonyms and homonyms. (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)     

Verbal abstracting ability and schizophrenia.

The Benjamin Proverbs Test was administered to 3 groups of 40 Ss each: reactive schizophrenics, process schizophrenics, and normal control Ss. Patients were rated for prognosis using the Premorbid subscale of the Phillips Prognostic Rating Scale. Ss were matched for education, vocabulary, age, and socioeconomic status of father. Proverbs were scored by 3 judges working independently. Highly significant differences were found among the 3 groups in ability to interpret proverbs. Process schizophrenics showed the greatest degree of impairment; reactive schizophrenics showed significant impairment, as compared to normal controls, but significantly less impairment than did process schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of assigned versus participatively set goals, knowledge of results, and individual differences on employee behavior when goal difficulty is held constant.

In Exp I, 60 female clerical workers were randomly assigned to participative, assigned, and "do best" goal conditions on a clerical test. Specific goals led to higher performance than did the "do best" goals. With goal difficulty held constant, there was no significant difference between the assigned and participative conditions on performance or goal acceptance. Goal attainment, however, was higher in the assigned condition than it was in the participative condition. No main or interaction effects were found for knowledge of results (KR) or for individual difference measures with performance or goal acceptance. However, high self-esteem Ss who received KR attained their goals more often than did Ss with low self-esteem when the goals were participatively set. Exp II was conducted with 28 employees from the same sample in a performance-appraisal setting over an 8-mo period. Assigned goals resulted in higher performance and greater goal acceptance than participatively set goals. There was a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance in the participative condition only. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol on aggression in male social drinkers.

Assigned 96 male undergraduates to 1 of 8 groups in a 2 * 2 * 2 factorial design. To control fully for expectation effects, 48 Ss were led to believe that they would be drinking alcohol (vodka and tonic), and 48 believed they would be drinking only tonic water. Within each of these 2 groups, 24 Ss actually received alcohol, but 24 were given only tonic. Following the beverage administration, 48 Ss were provoked to aggress by exposing them to an insulting confederate, whereas control Ss experienced a neutral interaction. Aggression was assessed by the intensity and duration of shocks administered to the confederate on a modified version of A. H. Buss's aggression apparatus. The only significant determinant of aggression was the expectation factor: Ss who believed they had consumed alcohol were more aggressive than Ss who believed they had consumed a nonalcoholic beverage, regardless of the actual alcohol content of the drinks. Ss receiving alcohol, however, showed a significant increase in a reaction time measure, regardless of the expectation condition. Provocation to aggress was also a significant determinant of aggression, but it did not interact with the beverage conditions. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)