RESUMEN
An under-recognised U-shaped model states that unconscious and conscious perceptual effects are functionally exclusive and that unconscious perceptual effects manifest themselves only at the objective detection threshold, when conscious perception is completely absent. We tested the U-shaped line model with a between-subjects paradigm. Angry, happy, neutral faces, or blank slides were flashed for 5.5 ms and 19.5 ms before Chinese ideographs in a darkened room. A group of volunteers (n = 84) were asked to rate how much they liked each ideograph and performed an identification task. According to the median identification score two subgroups were composed; one with 50% or < 50% identification scores (n = 31), and one with above 50% identification scores (n = 53). The hypothesised U-shaped line was confirmed by the findings. Affective priming was found only at the two extreme points: the 5.5 ms condition of the low-identification group (subliminal perception) and the 19.5 ms condition of the > 50% high-identification group (supraliminal perception). The two intermediate points (19.5 ms of the low-identification group and 5.5 ms of the high-identification group) did not correspond to significant priming effects. These results confirm that a complete absence of conscious perception is the condition for the deployment of unconscious perceptual effects.
Asunto(s)
Concienciación , Señales (Psicología) , Emociones , Expresión Facial , Individualidad , Reconocimiento Visual de Modelos , Memoria Implícita , Estimulación Subliminal , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Juicio , Modelos Lineales , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Enmascaramiento Perceptual , Umbral SensorialRESUMEN
Several contributions have reported an altered expression of pseudoneglect in psychiatric disorders, highlighting the existence of an anomalous brain lateralization in affected subjects. Surprisingly, no studies have yet investigated pseudoneglect in first-degree relatives (FdR) of psychiatric patients. We investigated performance on "paper and pencil" line bisection (LB) tasks in 68 schizophrenic patients (SCZ), 42 unaffected FdR, 41 unipolar depressive patients (UP), and 103 healthy subjects (HS). A subgroup of 20 SCZ and 16 HS underwent computerized LB and mental number line bisection (MNL) tasks requiring judgment of prebisected lines and numerical intervals. Moreover, we evaluated, in a subgroup of 15 SCZ, performance on LB and MNL before and after parietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In comparison to HS and UP, SCZ showed a systematic rightward bias on LB, partially corrected by selective right posterior parietal tDCS. Interestingly, even FdR showed a lack of pseudoneglect on LB, expressing a mean error lying in the middle between those of HS and SCZ. On the other hand, our results showed no significant difference between the performance of SCZ and HS on MNL. Both groups showed a comparable leftward bias that could not be significantly altered after left or right parietal tDCS. These findings confirm the existence of reduced lateralization in SCZ, suggesting specific impaired functioning of the right parietal lobule. Notably, we report a lack of pseudoneglect not only in SCZ but also in FdR, raising the hypothesis that an inverted laterality pattern may be considered a concrete marker of schizotypal traits.
Asunto(s)
Endofenotipos , Familia/psicología , Lóbulo Parietal/fisiopatología , Trastornos de la Percepción/genética , Esquizofrenia/genética , Psicología del Esquizofrénico , Percepción Espacial , Adulto , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Trastorno Depresivo/fisiopatología , Femenino , Lateralidad Funcional , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Trastornos de la Percepción/fisiopatología , Trastornos de la Percepción/psicología , Esquizofrenia/fisiopatología , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Two groups of 26 age- and sex-matched outpatients, with DSM-IV diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia, were compared on the Defense Mechanism Test-Separation Theme. A stimulus portraying a mother figure who is leaving a room where a baby lies alone on the floor was presented 22 times at increasing exposure durations in a single-view tachistoscope. Participants were asked to describe what they perceived at each step, according to the method of the Defense Mechanism Test. As predicted, reports of the mother seen as an inanimate object (phobic repression) were statistically significantly associated with agoraphobia, while reports of the mother entering the room or doing something other than leaving the baby (reaction formation) and reports of the baby as an angel (intellectualization) were associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Asunto(s)
Agorafobia/psicología , Mecanismos de Defensa , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/psicología , Trastorno de Pánico/psicología , Reconocimiento Visual de Modelos , Técnicas Proyectivas/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Agorafobia/diagnóstico , Ansiedad de Separación/diagnóstico , Ansiedad de Separación/psicología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/diagnóstico , Trastorno de Pánico/diagnóstico , Psicometría/estadística & datos numéricos , Reproducibilidad de los ResultadosRESUMEN
Patterns of adaptation to conflict in persons with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder were assessed with the Serial Color-Word Test. Obsessive-Compulsive patients (n=50) were compared with an age- and sex-matched group of nonclinical volunteers. Measures of linear and nonlinear change in reading times during each of the five consecutive trials of the test were compared between groups by means of a multivariate model with doubly repeated measures. The multivariate analysis yielded a significant between-groups result (Wilks Lambda = .76, p < .001), mainly supported by higher values of nonlinear change in the Obsessive-Compulsive group. Thus, the discriminative ability of the Serial Color-Word Test was confirmed when individual differences were removed from the error term.
Asunto(s)
Adaptación Psicológica , Atención , Percepción de Color , Conflicto Psicológico , Aprendizaje Discriminativo , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/psicología , Semántica , Adolescente , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Modelos Lineales , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Dinámicas no Lineales , Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo/diagnóstico , Tiempo de Reacción , Valores de ReferenciaRESUMEN
A recent study of correlations of self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour has been replicated on a larger sample. Non-clinical volunteers (145 women and 114 men) were administered Schill's Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the EMBU-Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (own memories of parental education) scale. Replicating previous findings, memories of rejecting or nonsupportive parents were significantly correlated with scores for the Self-defeating Personality Scale for both women (rejecting mother, r = 24; supportive mother, r = -.29; rejecting father, r = .23; supportive father, r = -.36) and men (rejecting mother, r = 40; rejecting father, r = .41; supportive father, r = -.28). Memories of an overinvolved parent were significantly correlated with self-defeating personality scores only among men (mother: r = .41; father: r = .36) as in the original study.
Asunto(s)
Crianza del Niño/psicología , Memoria , Relaciones Padres-Hijo , Padres/psicología , Trastornos de la Personalidad/diagnóstico , Inventario de Personalidad/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Niño , Desarrollo Infantil , Escolaridad , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Conducta Materna/psicología , Conducta Paterna , Trastornos de la Personalidad/psicología , Rechazo en Psicología , Reproducibilidad de los ResultadosRESUMEN
Patterns of adaptation to conflict were explored with the Serial Color-Word Test, and personality disorders were assessed by means of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory in a group of 76 nonpsychotic women volunteers in the age range 18-50 yr. (M=29.1 yr., SD=8.3), who attended a psychiatric outpatients unit. Forward multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate whether patterns of adaptation were associated with personality disorders. 10 out of 13 personality scales, as measured by the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, were significantly predicted by adaptive variables. Some predictors were positive and others were negative. The variable R(AD) was a negative predictor of avoidant and dependent personalities, and a positive predictor of Extraversion, Aggressive personality, and Antisocial personality; this finding suggests that R(AD) may represent the regulative counterpart of a continuum from passive introversion to aggressive extraversion. The results encourage further research on nontrait laboratory correlates of personality disorders.
Asunto(s)
Adaptación Psicológica , Conflicto Psicológico , Trastornos de la Personalidad/psicología , Inventario de Personalidad , Adolescente , Adulto , Atención Ambulatoria , Femenino , Humanos , Persona de Mediana Edad , Modelos Psicológicos , Trastornos de la Personalidad/diagnóstico , Trastornos de la Personalidad/rehabilitaciónRESUMEN
The Serial Color-Word Test was administered to nonclinical volunteers of three age strata (17-29, 30-45, 46-65 yr.). Sex differences on the 17 variables of the test were explored for each age stratum. Only six significant intersex differences were found. In all age strata women scored significantly higher on linear regression of reading times in one of the last two subtests, i.e., R4 or R5.
Asunto(s)
Atención , Percepción de Color , Lectura , Semántica , Adolescente , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Tiempo de Reacción , Factores SexualesRESUMEN
A group of 132 nonclinical volunteers was given the Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU) scale to explore correlations of scores for adults' self-defeating traits with memories of parents' child-rearing behaviours. For men, the recall of two rejecting parents and, for women, the memory of a nonsupportive father were significantly correlated with scores of self-defeating traits. The latter scores correlated positively with memories of both overinvolved mother and father for men, while no significant correlation was found among women.