The Contributions of Memory and Attention Processes to Cognitive Abilities

In two experiments, the contributions of memory and attention processes to the cognitive abilities of reasoning and perceptual speed were investigated. Two measures of speed of information retrieval from long-term and short-term memory (Posner paradigm, Sternberg paradigm) and two attention measures (continuous attention test, attention switching test) were included in the first experiment (N = 220). The memory tests led to correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities, whereas the attention test did not. The same tests as well as one additional memory test and one attention test (working memory test, test of covert orientation) were administered in the second experiment (N = 116). Again, the memory tests led to the larger correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities. Two components were obtained in components analysis, of which the first was characterized by high loadings of the memory tests and the second by high loadings of the attention tests. Only the memory component contributed to the prediction of cognitive abilities.     

Effects of color on perceptual and conceptual tests of implicit memory

Two experiments are reported that explore why recent investigations of implicit memory failed to find any effects of color information on test performance. In the first experiment, participants studied colored pictures as well as words printed in colored ink without any memory instructions. During the test phase, a verbal and a pictorial version of a color-choice task (a conceptual priming test) were compared to two perceptual tests (word-stem completion and picture-fragment identification). Similar and significant amounts of priming to color occurred in both color-choice tasks. The perceptual tests were found to be sensitive to changes in the stimulus-presentation mode from study to test, but stimuli remaining the same color and those changed to black-and-white did not differ in the priming scores. In the second experiment, a mild division of attention was introduced in the study phase. Once again, priming to color was observed only in the verbal version of a color-choice test and not in the word-stem completion test. Dividing attention did not decrease performance on both implicit tests, whereas an explicit test of color recall for studied pictures suffered from dividing attention at encoding. It is concluded that a perceptual attribute such as color may be represented and coded by conceptual processing. Furthermore, automatic (or not attention-demanding) encoding processes may suffice for later conceptual tests of implicit memory. Previous failures to find any effects of color information on implicit performance are attributed to the use of perceptual priming tests. Received: 30 June 1997 / Accepted: 20 April 1998     

The contributions of memory and attention processes to cognitive abilities

In two experiments, the contributions of memory and attention processes to the cognitive abilities of reasoning and perceptual speed were investigated. Two measures of speed of information retrieval from long-term and short-term memory (Posner paradigm, Sternberg paradigm) and two attention measures (continuous attention test, attention switching test) were included in the first experiment (N = 220). The memory tests led to correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities, whereas the attention test did not. The same tests as well as one additional memory test and one attention test (working memory test, test of covert orientation) were administered in the second experiment (N = 116). Again, the memory tests led to the larger correlations with the measures of cognitive abilities. Two components were obtained in components analysis, of which the first was characterized by high loadings of the memory tests and the second by high loadings of the attention tests. Only the memory component contributed to the prediction of cognitive abilities.     

Ego functioning and acute adverse reactions to psychoactive drugs.

The relationship between ego functioning and acute adverse reactions to psychoactive drugs was examined using retrospective data. The data were consistent with a causal model in which characteristic use of regression (and to a lesser extent repression) was associated with acute adverse reactions to marijuana and to LSD. Regression also had an indirect effect through increased usage of LSD. Subjects characterized by the use of intellectualization and denial were less likely to report developing acute adverse reactions. A higher score on a general measure of coping was related to avoiding acute adverse reactions to LSD, but not to marijuana. Projection, regression in the service of the ego, and tolerance of ambiguity has no effect on acute adverse reactions.     

Is there atypical handedness in schizophrenia?

Ninety-three schizophrenic patients and 105 normal controls were tested in a single session on an 8-item repeat-administration handedness test. The schizophrenic group, in contrast to the normal controls, showed a shift in the distribution away from right-handedness, which was due to an increase in the proportion of mixed-handers. Additional analyses revealed that the increase in mixed-handedness was largely due to an increase of within-item variability in the schizophrenic group, which we refer to as ambiguous handedness. Nearly 20% of the schizophrenic patients were inconsistent on 3 or more items compared with 3.8% of the normal controls. This increased incidence of atypical handedness is discussed within the context of disorders of attention and neurodevelopment.     

Limits of the processing view in accounting for dissociations among memory measures in a clinical population

In three experiments, we examined the performance of patients with schizophrenia on implicit and explicit memory tests that have been shown to involve predominantly data-driven or predominantly conceptually driven processes. In Experiment 1, we compared the implicit tests of category production (conceptually driven)and word identification (data driven) and found that schizophrenic patients’ performance on these tests did not differ from that of normal subjects. In Experiment 2, a comparison of the category-production and explicit cued-recall tests, both of which involve conceptual processes, showed that schizophrenic patients were impaired on the cued-recall test but not on the category-production test. In Experiment 3, a comparison of the word-identification and explicit graphemic cued-recall tests, both of which involve data-driven processes, showed that patients were impaired on the cued-recall test but not on the word-identification test. The results of both Experiments 2 and 3 revealed a dissociation between implicit and explicit test performance under conditions in which the two tests involve similar- types of processes. These results support theoretical views that distinguish implicit from explicit modes of retrieval.     

Sustained attention and related perceptuomotor functions

The present study examined the relationship between two measures of sustained attention on the Continuous Performance Test (reaction time and omission errors) and several performance measures on neuropsychological tests. Analysis suggests that sustained attention as measured by processing speed predicts performance on neuropsychological measures of relatively greater complexity and that the Stroop test, which requires maintaining steady focus on a changing stimulus field, may be more sensitive to lapses in attention than other neuropsychological tests.     

A comparison of implicit memory tests in schizophrenic patients and normal controls

The objective of the current study was to compare the performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls on implicit memory tests. Two neuropsychological tasks were administered to 29 patients and normal participant samples. The implicit tests were: Word fragment completion and Word production from semantic categories. The priming score was the variable of interest. Priming effects are obtained in normal subjects and schizophrenia patients, regardless of the implicit test used. However, a dissociation in priming between normal and patient groups was observed, depending on the test used. For word fragment test, priming was identical between the two groups. However, for word production, priming obtained in schizophrenics was lower than priming in normal controls. Results confirm a dissociation effect in implicit memory tests. These results could be explained in the context of the Roediger and Blaxton (1987) distinction between data-driven and conceptually-driven processing. This evidence suggests that a complete neuropsychological assessment of memory in schizophrenia should include different kinds of implicit memory tests (procedural, perceptual, and conceptual tasks).     

A comparison between the Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder and diagnostic psychologicaI testing

Abstract.— Bannister and Fransella's Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder based on Personal Construct Theory and the concept of "loosened construing", as measurable in the scores of Intensity and Consistency between intercorrelations, has been applied to a Scandinavian sample of psychiatric patients. The validity of the test was illustrated, and a significant difference was found between a group of schizophrenics and schizophrenic borderline states and a group without schizophrenic thought disorders. The Grid Test scores were found to agree with thought disorder manifestations as evaluated in qualitative terms on the basis of cognitive and projective tests, but they did not differentiate between developmental levels of thinking corresponding to con-creteness in organic impairment versus diffuseness in schizophrenia. Thus, the concept of "loosened construing" as applied in this thought disorder test seems too unspecific.     

Spatial and Selective Attention in the Cerebral Hemispheres in Depression, Mania, and Schizophrenia

Two tachistoscopic tests examining distinct aspects of attention were administered to normal subjects and patients with depression, mania, and schizophrenia. The first examined spatial attentional bias using happy-sad chimeric faces, known to elicit a perceptual bias to the left side of space in normal right-handers provided the right cerebral hemisphere is intact. The second used a lateralized version of the Stroop task, a traditional test of selective attention. Normals showed the expected leftward perceptual bias but showed equivalent susceptibility to the Stroop effect in both visual fields. As previously demonstrated with chimeric faces viewed in free vision, depression and mania were associated with weak and strong biases respectively with schizophrenics showing no bias to either side of space. The relationship between perceptual bias, as assessed by reaction time and absolute performance and the Stroop effect, showed differences according to diagnosis. This may be interpreted as evidence for the dissociability of attentional processes as well as lateralized differences in the pattern of cerebral activation in affective disorders and schizophrenia. The independence of performance variables on these tests in the schizophrenic group points to severe neuropsychological dysfunction.     

Anticipated versus actual reaction to HIV test results

The accuracy of predictions of how people will react to a medical test result is important because it may influence the decision to be tested. We hypothesized that people would overpredict their own long-term reactions to HIV test results (i.e., that they would feel better in response to seropositive results and worse in response to negative results than they expected to). In the first study phase, anticipations of reactions to positive and negative HIV test results were obtained from 50 subjects. In the second phase, postresult reactions were obtained about 5 weeks after subjects learned the results of their tests. The results suggest that people anticipate more distress given a positive result and anticipate less distress given a negative result than they experience. Cautions about the comparability of the 2 samples and recommendations for further research are discussed.     

Comparison of Beck Depression Inventories-IA and-II in Psychiatric Outpatients

The study of mental representations on projective tests such as the Rorschach has made substantial contributions to our understanding of psychopathology. It is not clear, however, whether the representations of paranoid schizophrenics can be differentiated from those of normals and whether the Rorschach is the best test for such comparison. Object representations on the Rorschach and a role-playing (Johnson & Quinlan, 1980, 1985) test were studied in groups of normal (n = 31) and schizophrenic subjects (divided into paranoid [n = 16], intermediate [n = 11], and nonparanoid groups [n = 16]). Developmental levels of representation on both tests were measured with the widely used system of Blatt, Brenneis, Schimek, and Glick (1976), derived from Werner's concepts of differentiation, articulation, and integration. Generally the groups were not differentiated on these measures on the Rorschach. The role-playing test showed greater discriminatory power than the Rorschach, possibly due to its explicit demand to produce representations of humans in interaction. Results of the role-playing test showed differentiation and integration scores were negatively correlated with measures of psychotic symptoms. Nonparanoids differed from the other three groups on differentiation measures, and paranoid and normal groups scored higher on integration measures than did the intermediate and nonparanoid groups. Paranoid subjects scored higher than nonparanoids on functional articulation and higher than intermediates on perceptual articulation; however, paranoid subjects were not differentiated from normals on any developmental measure. Differences between the schizophrenic sample and normals were explained entirely by the nonparanoid subgroup, supporting the paranoid-nonparanoid distinction and raising questions regarding the nature of the deficit in paranoid schizophrenia.     

Pathogenesis: A New Therapist Personality Dimension Related to Therapeutic Effectiveness

The pre-project TATs of ten therapists were rated for “pathogenesis” and these ratings later correlated with their patient's level of functioning after six months of treatment. Outcome was measured in a variety of data modalities: intellectual tests, thought disorder measures, projectives, clinical status interviews, and hospitalization. Significant correlations were obtained on five of eight outcome measures. Patients of more benign (or less pathogenic) therapists demonstrated greater foresight, less schizophrenic thought disorder, greater intellectual functioning, were rated as healthier in the Clinical Status Interview, and spent less time in the hospital than patients of more pathogenic therapists.     

Adult age differences in memory for routes: effects of instruction and spatial diagram.

Free-recall and multiple-choice measures of memory for landmarks, sequential order, turns, and route configurations were obtained from younger and older adults after they viewed slides of 2 overlapping routes. Instructions focused attention on either the contents of the slides or on the course of the path; a control condition provided no orientational instructions. Half the subjects viewed maplike diagrams of the joint spatial configuration. Age interacted with instruction only for multiple-choice tests of landmark memory. Age interacted with diagram for each of the other 3 route memory components, although the generality of this interaction across instruction condition depended on whether free-recall or multiple-choice tests were used. The results suggest that route memory may involve both scene and layout representation, which may be differentially sensitive to age and presentational variables.     

Can Communication Deviance Be Measured in a Family Problem-Solving Interaction?

Communication deviance (CD) refers to confusing and fragmented communication that prevents family members from attaining a shared focus of attention and meaning. Levels of communication deviance based on individual parental projective test protocols--Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and Rorschach--have repeatedly been found to be higher in parents of schizophrenic offspring than in parents of normal or nonpsychotic offspring. CD has also been measured in family transactions in which parents and their offspring interact with one another around a projective test stimulus, the Consensus Rorschach. There have been relatively few attempts to measure specific CD codes in familial interaction that is not initiated around an ambiguous visual stimulus. The present article examines the reliability and construct validity of an interactional measure (ICD) obtained from family transactions in which parents and patients are working toward the solution of a salient family problem. ICD from this family problem-solving task was compared to more traditional measures of CD from parental TAT protocols in a sample of 59 parents of 37 recent-onset schizophrenic patients. Results indicated that CD could be reliably measured in an interactive setting not initiated around a projective test stimulus, and provided evidence for the construct validity of ICD.     

Flexibilité cognitive,attention sélective et fluidité verbale sémantique dans trois dimensions de schizophrénie : psychotique,négative et de désorganisation

The aim of this study was to explore specific pattern of cognitive dysfunctions related to three schizophrenic dimensions: disorganisation, negative and psychotic, resulting from principal component analyse applied to PANSS's items. We assessed executive functions/dysfunctions in 42 schizophrenics (APA, 1994). Data suggest that principal component analyse performed on the 30 items of PANSS identify homogenous schizophrenia dimensions. Results show that disorganisation dimension was associated with low performances in selective attention (Stroop test), negative dimension were associated to low performances in cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting test) and in semantic verbal fluency. However, no significant correlation was found between psychotic dimension and cognitive dysfunctions. On the whole, our study contributes to the comprehension of specific patterns of cognitive disorders in the schizophrenic dimensions. Results is detailed and discussed.     

Loss of Discriminative “Power” of the MMPI with Older Psychiatric Patients

MMPIs were obtained from four groups of 20 hospitalized male patients which differed in age (18–28 years vs 45–59 years) and psychiatric diagnosis (schizophrenic vs nonschizophrenic). The MMPI discriminated between young schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients but did not discriminate between older schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients. The apparent loss of discriminative “power” of the MMPI with older patients was interpreted as supporting the importance of the often overlooked nonpathological characteristics of the psychological test subject.     

The role of perceptual laws in the Rorschach test

The purpose of this study is twofold: to ascertain the perceptual deficits in schizophrenic subjects and to test the assumption that the Rorschach is mainly a perceptual task. Forty-eight subjects participated in the study, distributed in six groups of eight subjects each: normals, affective disorders, and four groups of schizophrenics (chronic paranoid, chronic nonparanoid, acute paranoid, and acute nonparanoid). They were given a perceptual test developed by Fernández-Trespalacios, Bermudez, and Luna (1979). Contrary to previous findings, no differences in the perceptual test were found among the groups. In the second part of the study, a group of schizophrenic subjects was given the Rorschach and the perceptual test in a balanced order. Subsequently, subjects in the experimental group were trained in the perceptual laws they had failed. Comparison of the Rorschach protocols obtained before and after this training failed to show any significant differences in the expected direction, thus questioning the perceptual nature of this test. Interestingly, an increase in negative categories of the Rorschach subsequent to the perceptual training was observed.