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.     

Borderline Personality Clients in University Populations

Border personality disorder symptomatology is described as it may appear within a university population. The etiology of the disorder is examined from a Kohutian self-psychology perspective. Case-management procedures are outlined with a view to preventing inappropriate contracting with severely disturbed borderline clients. Recommendations are made regarding diagnosis procedures and the use of referrals. The impact of borderline clients on university staff is also discussed.     

Gender differences in preference to offer social support to assertive men and women

Although gender bias is clearly evident in the provision of institutional social support, it is unclear whether such bias exists on a more subtle and interpersonal level. When women act appropriately assertive at work, they may actually alienate support. This paper reports an experimental study that addressed this general issue of social support among employed men and women. A sample of 61 males and 55 females (predominantly white; N=116), employed by four northeast Ohio employers participated. The extent of preference to offer support to assertive males and females was explored. An unexpected double bias was found, with each sex preferring to offer support to their own sex.This project was funded by a grant received by the Applied Psychology Center of Kent State University, from the Ohio Department of Development through the Northeast Ohio Center for the Advancement of Labor Management Cooperation. We gratefully acknowledge this financial assistance.     

The stability of individual differences in gender typing: Implications for understanding gender segregation

The stability of individual differences has important implications for understanding the origins of gender-typed behaviors. For example, if some children have a stronger preference for same-sex playmates (gender segregation) than do others, then exploring characteristics that may differentiate these children from their peers (e.g., preference for gender-typed toys or teacher proximity) should prove fruitful. Otherwise, research might be focused more appropriately on group-level processes or situational factors rather than individual differences. In the current study, 57 2 1/2- to 3-year-olds from middle-class Canadian homes were observed repeatedly during free play at their preschools. Four aspects of gender typing (gender segregation, use of masculine and feminine gender-typed toys, teacher proximity) were measured so that the stability of individual differences and relations among the measures could be assessed. Stable individual differences were found for all four measures among boys, and for two of the measures (feminine toy play, teacher proximity) among girls. In addition, boys who played most frequently with masculine toys rarely were observed in proximity to the teacher. However, there was no relation between gender segregation and the other indices of gender typing.     

Internal and external control: a two-factor model of amplitude change of event-related potentials

The present paper critically examines the contributions of Event-Related Potential (ERP) measures in mental chronometry research. It is argued that amplitude variations in ERP components may provide valuable information regarding the intensity and timing of information processes, and that these amplitude changes are related to energetical rather than to computational processes. It is also suggested that amplitude variations of ERP components in visual discrimination and selective attention tasks are caused by two different processing modes, denoted as external and internal control that are associated with different neural structures. It is further assumed that these two control systems converge upon thalamic neurons that regulate the sensory input to cortex, and that the direction of sustained ERP amplitude changes reflects which system is dominant. Recent ERP studies have shown that the effects of task variables related to motor control are manifested in a surprisingly early phase of the ERP waveform, and that these effects overlap in time with the effects of task variables related to input control. These findings suggest that at least in visual discrimination and selective attention tasks external and internal modes of processing may be activated in parallel.     

A stochastic model for inter-keypress times in a typing task

A mathematical model for the inter-keypress times (IKT) in a typing task is proposed. The model, which includes a diffusion process terminated by a single response threshold, was evaluated using data obtained from typists. The differences in performance for successive cross-hand and within-hand keypresses were examined using IKT distributions and hazard functions, and it was shown that the empirical hazard functions could be fit by the theoretical hazard function derived from the convolution of normal and inverse Gaussian random variables. Some possible applications of the model for the evaluation of fatigue and strategic effects in typing are suggested.     

Integrating information across eye fixations in reading: the role of letter and word units

Eye movements and eye fixations were recorded to study the integration of letter/word information across interword fixations in reading. Two hypotheses were examined. One hypothesis posits that readers obtain effective information from the beginning two or three letters of a parafoveal word. This information facilitates the recognition of the word when it is being fixated. The alternative posits that effective information is obtained from the complete parafoveal word. The results of the present study showed faster reading rates when parafoveal previews comprised complete words than when they comprised beginning letters alone. Furthermore, the usability of parafoveally available partial word information from beginning and ending letters was not affected by small variations in retinal eccentricity. Both findings were taken as evidence that readers gain useful information from all letters of the parafoveally available word and that whole word information, rather than specific letter information, is integrated across interword fixations in reading.     

Social skills and depression in adolescent suicide attempters

The relationship among depression, social skills, and suicidal behavior was examined in a sample of 41 adolescents hospitalized in a general medical setting following a suicide attempt. These subjects were compared to 40 nonsuicidal psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. Level of depression, assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and social skills, assessed via the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), were evaluated for all subjects. The suicide attempters and psychiatrically hospitalized patients were not found to differ on either the CDI or MESSY. However, multiple regression analyses revealed the factor scores of the MESSY to be related to depression in both patient groups. The data provide support for the relationship between social skills and depression. Results are also discussed in terms of the similarities between adolescent suicide attempters and nonsuicidal psychiatrically disturbed adolescents.     

Followup of psychoanalysis five to ten years after termination: III. The relation between the resolution of the transference and the patient-analyst match

As part of a long-term followup study of the outcome of psychoanalysis, we examined the relation between the extent of resolution of the transference at termination and the characteristics of the patient-analyst match. For twelve of the seventeen patients interviewed five to ten years after termination of psychoanalysis, the researchers found that the patient-analyst match played a role in the outcome of the analysis. Illustrations of the influence of the match in cases where the transference was resolved and those where it was not are presented.