The Mezzich MMPI regression formula revisited

In a sample of depressed psychiatric inpatients, the Mezzich regression formula, based on five MMPI scales, correlated moderately with clinicians' judgments and yielded few false negative diagnoses in identifying patients with unipolar Major Depressive Disorder, but was less effective in eliminating false positives.     

A revised analysis of the role of efference in motion perception

The analysis of motion perception historically has included efferent as well as afferent mechanisms to account for the perception of motion during eye movement. The application of efferent mechanisms to motion perception has been limited, however, by several illusions which are apparently inconsistent with the notion that oculomotor mechanisms contribute to motion perception. An alternative account is presented of the manner in which efference may contribute to the perception of motion. It is proposed that distinct smooth eye-movement systems contribute differentially to object motion perception. Specifically, activity in the smooth pursuit system gives rise to the perception of object motion, whereas activity in the smooth component of reflexive eye movements does not. Tracking of a moving object results in object motion perception as a result of efference in the pursuit system. However, the pursuit system may be activated to oppose the smooth component of reflexive eye movements in order to preserve fixation on a stationary object. In such cases neither the fixated object nor the eye is moving but illusory movement results from the efference in the pursuit system. A number of illusory movement phenomena are interpreted in terms of this model.     

Single-component microcomputer-driven assessment of attention

The Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) is a single-component microcomputer-based instrument that can be used to administer 11 psychological tests. The game-like tasks provide objective data for evaluating possible attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or other conditions that affect a person’s ability to sustain attention and exert self-control. The core of the instrument is an integrated circuit with a microprocessor, a random access memory, and an erasable, programmable read-only memory (EPROM). It can be programmed with an IBM PC and an EPROM programmer. The assembly language source is compiled into machine language, which is used to simulate the GDS on the IBM PC or is “burned” into the ROM. The memory is erasable with ultraviolet light, so revisions can be made easily. The GDS illustrates that “custom” programming a ROM is not limited to large industrial concerns, and that it can be done within small research groups.     

The relationship between perceived length and egocentric location in Müller-Lyer figures with one versus two chevrons

We examined the apparent dissociation of perceived length and perceived position with respect to the Müller-Lyer (M-L) illusion. With the traditional (two-chevron) figure, participants made accurate open-loop pointing responses at the endpoints of the shaft, despite the presence of a strong length illusion. This apparently non-Euclidean outcome replicated that of Mack, Heuer, Villardi, and Chambers (1985) and Gillam and Chambers (1985) and contradicts any theory of the M-L illusion in which mislocalization of shaft endpoints plays a role. However, when one of the chevrons was removed, a constant pointing error occurred in the predicted direction, as well as a strong length illusion. Thus, with one-chevron stimuli, perceived length and location were no longer completely dissociated. We speculated that the presence of two opposing chevrons suppresses the mislocalizing effects of a single chevron, especially for figures with relatively short shafts.     

Contrasting jail diversion and in-jail services for mental illness and substance abuse: do they serve the same clients?

Baseline data from a study of jail diversion services and in-jail behavioral health services were used to examine the differences in clients served by these two models of responding to people with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems in the criminal justice system. Clients of the diversion service had more acute psychiatric symptoms and were more likely to have a diagnosis of psychosis NOS. Clients of the in-jail service were more likely to have been on probation or parole in the past and to have received substance abuse treatment. Different service models may attract and serve different populations of clients. Diversion services may cast a wider net that includes clients who may not have otherwise been involved in forensic services.     

Psychoanalysis: a dysfunctional family?

The discussion opens with an account of the author's mother's bizarre family in which a strong, charismatic grandmother maintained absolute control over her large family by encouraging a neurotic dependence in them through daily reports of their complaints.
Getting interested in psychoanalysis in an effort to understand the dynamics of this dysfunctional family, the author, a biographer, turned to the study of Melanie Klein, becoming entranced by her ideas. Her research also revealed how Klein had discouraged her followers from developing ideas that diverged in any way from her own. Her portrait of the pioneer analyst provoked intense indignation. A similar pattern of absolute loyalty to his person and theories was to be found in Freud's Secret Committee, formed primarily as a means of getting rid of Jung who had been showing disturbing signs of independence. When Ferenczi and Rank began to pursue independent lines of enquiry in their work, they too were thought to be undermining the foundations of classical psychoanalysis.
Finally, the author concludes that though there have been sorry incidents in psychoanalysis, we should be mature enough to accept both the contributions of the early pioneers and the realizations that new ideas must be permitted to evolve.     

A Twin and Family Study of the Association Between Immune System Dysfunction and Dyslexia Using Blood Serum Immunoassay and Survey Data

We conducted a study of the association between developmental reading disability (DRD) and immune disorders (ID) using both survey and immunoassay data in two separate samples of families. One sample was made up of twins and their parents and was ascertained through a population-based sampling scheme. The other sample was a set of extended pedigrees selected for apparent autosomal dominant transmission of DRD. We failed to find an association between DRD and ID in either sample, regardless of the method used to assess immune system function. Even though our twin sample provided evidence that both DRD and immune conditions were significantly heritable, there was no evidence for a genetic correlation between ID and DRD nor was there any clear indication that a special subgroup of individuals may be comorbid for these conditions because of genetic reasons. How these negative findings can be reconciled with the developmental hypothesis of Geschwind, Behan, Galaburda, and colleagues, and how they may relate to the gene locus influencing DRD that has been recently located in the HLA region of the short arm of chromosome 6 is discussed.