Somatosensory Processing and Schizophrenia Liability: Proprioception, Exteroceptive Sensitivity, and Graphesthesia Performance in the Biological Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients.

In the present study, the authors examined somatosensory processing in 30 biological relatives of persons with schizophrenia (hereafter called "schizophrenia relatives"), 30 biological relatives of persons with bipolar affective disorder (psychiatric family control subjects), and 30 healthy control subjects with no family history of psychopathology. All 3 groups completed a weight discrimination task, a 2-point discrimination task, and a complex cognitive somatosensory task (i.e., graphesthesia). The schizophrenia relatives performed significantly worse on all 3 somatosensory tasks compared with both the healthy control subjects and the bipolar relatives. The healthy control subjects and psychiatric family control subjects showed no significant differences on any of the somatosensory tasks. Within the weight discrimination and 2-point discrimination tasks, schizophrenia relatives showed group differences on the d' index, the measure of sensitivity, whereas all 3 groups did not differ on lnβ, the measure of response bias, suggesting a genuine difference in weight and touch sensitivity. The d' value of the weight discrimination task was significantly associated with both the cognitive-perceptual factor and negative symptom factor of the clinical questionnaire (e.g., Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire; SPQ), whereas the 2-point discrimination d' value and graphesthesia scores were significantly associated only with the cognitive-perceptual factor of the SPQ. Implications for the possible relation between somatosensory task performance and schizophrenia liability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A microgenetic approach to word association.

3 experiments were conducted to test certain general hypotheses derived from a microgenetic approach to word association. Association responses given under time pressure were compared with those given without time pressure in groups of college students. Word associations of schizophrenics and a group of hospital aides were similarly compared without time pressure. The results in part supported the hypothesis that word associations of the college students performing under time pressure would differ from those of the Ss without time pressure in the same way that responses of the schizophrenics would differ from those of the aides. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes of schizophrenics and normals toward success and failure.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that schizophrenics, as compared with normals, are relatively more highly motivated to avoid failure than to achieve success. A total of 291 Ss, including 136 hospitalized male schizophrenics, 103 normals, and--as a contrast group--52 neurotics, were administered the Success-Failure Inventory (SFI), a 22-item True-False instrument designed to assess attitudes toward success attainment and failure avoidance. As predicted, the schizophrenic samples manifested greater relative failure avoidance than the normals. Further, active schizophrenics evidenced greater relative failure avoidance than did remitted schizophrenics. Remitted schizophrenics and neurotics were not significantly different. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hallucinations, Negative Symptoms, and Response Bias in a Verbal Recognition Task in Schizophrenia.

Several studies have reported an association between hallucinations and tendency to make false alarms in acoustic signal detection tasks. Previous work on patients with schizophrenia has suggested that false recognitions and other types of memory error were positively associated with hallucinations and inversely associated with certain negative symptoms of withdrawal. In this study, 40 patients with schizophrenia were administered a word recognition task. Mixed lists of high- and low-frequency words were presented, then the target words had to be recognized among distractors in immediate and delayed recognition conditions. Hallucination scores were correlated with an increased bias toward false recognitions of nonpresented words. Affective flattening tended to be correlated with a reduced bias toward false recognitions. Anhedonia was significantly correlated with a reduced response bias. Hallucinations and anhedonia therefore presented an opposite association with the response bias. The influence of word frequency and delay on this association is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pharmacotherapy for Delusional Disorder and Associated Conditions.

Delusional disorder, according to current psychiatric nosology, is the presence of one or more nonbizarre delusions (i.e., false beliefs that nonetheless may be plausible or derived from ordinary life experiences) that do not occur in the context of schizophrenia and often exist in the presence of generally acceptable levels of psychosocial functioning. Currently recognized subtypes of delusional disorder are erotomanic (a delusion that another is in love with the patient), grandiose, jealous, persecutory, or somatic (Manschreck, 2000). As Manschreck noted, the diagnosis is complicated by disagreements over the distinction between bizarre and nonbizarre delusions, as well as the fact that the features of certain subtypes of delusional disorder may closely resemble those found in other conditions. Very little data, aside from anecdotal or case reports, exist to inform practice regarding the treatment of delusional disorder. Much of the recent literature addresses delusions that exist in the context of dementia or another underlying neurological disorder. It is important to recognize the substantial differences between these conditions and a primary delusional disorder. This brief review examines not only pharmacological management of primary delusional disorder but also delusions in the context of dementia and related disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judging personality from voice quality.

The hypothesis that specific impressions are determined by voice qualities was tested. Specific impressions were defined as ratings on the Potency and Activity factors of the semantic differential. 10 schizophrenics and 11 nonschizophrenics were recorded reading the same passage. Es heard the voices in random order and made (a) semantic-differential ratings and (b) judgments of the readers they perceived as being schizophrenic. 3 of 4 predictions concerning the effect of voice qualities were confirmed. The results indicate the validity of the hypothesis that specific impressions of a speaker's physical characteristics and demeanor are determined by that speaker's voice qualities, and that adjective pairs representing the Potency and Activity factors are sensitive to these differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of chlorpromazine on primary-process thought manifestations.

Attempted to determine the effect of chlorpromazine on primary-process thinking. 40 institutionalized schizophrenics were randomly assigned to either a drug or a placebo group. Research data were obtained from pre- and postdrug Rorschach protocols, which were scored using Holt's method. The most outstanding finding was the striking improvement in mean defense effectiveness. Drug patients proved to be more capable of handling primary-process elements; the more so, the more they were rated as clinically improved. The insignificant changes in the sum of Level 1 primary process and mean defense demand suggest that the degree of thought pathology itself is not directly affected by drug treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of group problem solving experience upon social withdrawal in chronic schizophrenics.

It was hypothesized that chronic schizophrenics exposed to sustained group problem solving experience would tend to improve their levels of social participation on criterion tasks socially more challenging and complex. It was further hypothesized that such improvement would generalize to task performance with total strangers and to social behavior on the ward. All predictions except the one about ward behavior were confirmed by experimental findings with 32 chronic schizophrenic patients. It is suggested that sustained social experience in situations which elicit social participation permit factors to, become operative which reduce anxiety associated with socially more challenging, complex situations and thus facilitate participation in such situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of vocabulary performance by schizophrenics.

After 13 additional years of institutionalization, 31 schizophrenic men and 36 schizophrenic women were retested with the Wechsler Bellevue vocabulary test, Form I. No Significant decline was found in vocabulary performance. The findings did not support the hypothesis that prolonged institutionalization induces intellectual deterioration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proverb word counts as a measure of overinclusiveness in delusional schizophrenics.

A partial replication was conducted of Payne's (1964) report concerning the relationship between delusions and overinclusive thinking as measured by proverbs word counts. Word counts were made of Gorham Proverbs Test responses given by age and intelligence-matched groups of 21 delusional schizophrenics, 21 nondelusional schizophrenics, and 21 nonschizophrenic, nondelusional psychiatric in-patients. 23 paranoid, 23 nonparanoid, and 23 nonschizophrenic control Ss, similarly matched, from the same population, were also compared. No significant differences in proverb word counts were found among the groups. Although the possibility of increased irrelevant side remarks could not be excluded, paranoid or delusional schizophrenics do not produce higher proverb relevant word counts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)