The Family Rorschach with families of schizophrenics: replication and extension

Using a modified version of procedures outlined by Shapiro and Wild (9), this study evaluates the use of a Family Rorschach technique as a means of distinguishing families of schizophrenic patients from those of psychiatrically hospitalized, nonschizophrenic individuals. The patients were diagnosed using Research Diagnostic Criteria, and families were matched for age, intelligence, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results showed that the families with schizophrenic offspring scored significantly lower (that is, they had more communication and attentional difficulties) than those with nonschizophrenic offspring; offspring gender and family constellation had little effect on scores. Subsequent analyses indicated that lower scores were not simply a reflection of the psychoticism of the patient. These findings suggest that families of schizophrenics have interpersonal communication difficulties that compromise their ability to maintain a shared focus of attention. The findings are consistent with the suggestion that deviant patterns of family communication in interaction with genetic vulnerability in an offspring may result in the development of a schizophrenic disorder.     

Differentiated perceptions of exertion: part I. mode of integration of regional signals

The mode of sensory integration of differentiated perceptions of exertion from the legs and chest was determined during sub-maximal cycle ergometer exercise. 50 male subjects performed three separate cycle ergometer tests. Power output was held constant at 840 kpm/min., while pedalling rate was randomly set at 40, 60, or 80 rpm. The over-all rating of perceived exertion was significantly lower than the rating for the legs and higher than that for the chest at each pedalling rate. Local signals from the legs dominated the sensory process. Central signals were less pronounced. The mean of the ratings for the legs and chest was slightly but significantly higher than the over-all rating at each pedalling rate. Therefore, the integration process at the superordinate level of sensory processing appeared as a weighted average of the involved regional signals.     

Women business school academicians: Disparities and progress

The recency of the phenomenon of increased numbers of women business school professors led to an investigation of the characteristics of 1,492 female faculty members. The data suggest that women with very recent degrees are better prepared than their forerunners: They are more likely than those who received earlier degrees to hold a doctorate, to have published, to have held a prior management position, and to teach in a larger and better school. A comparison of male and female subsamples reveals that the women are less likely than men to hold a doctorate; this single factor greatly accounts for women's inequity in rank and administrative position. Implications of the findings on students and on curriculum are elaborated.A preliminary version of this article was presented to the Academy of Management, San Francisco, August, 1978. The author wishes to thank Howard E. Mitchell, Director of the Human Resources Center, for his comments on an earlier draft.     

Unexplained chest pain: a review of psychological conceptualizations and treatment efficacy

This review critically considers psychological theories and models used to understand unexplained chest pain, and efficacy of treatment strategies. It discusses the strengths and limitations of current perspectives, and highlights implications for future research and interventions. A comprehensive range of literature examining unexplained chest pain, and published over the last three decades, was thus reviewed finding that, although unexplained chest pain has been examined as a psychological phenomenon for over 100 years, explanatory models have emerged only in the last two decades. Neither psychophysiological nor psychodynamic models have been significantly advanced. Only cognitive-behavioural models have been explicitly derived to explain and manage the condition, and require further refinement to address conceptual and methodological limitations. Studies assessing treatment efficacy suggest cognitive-behavioural therapy as a first-line therapy, but have failed to establish whether the approach is acceptable and effective in routine care. Comprehensive psychological understanding of unexplained chest pain, and its management, is therefore developing but is far from complete. Cognitive-behavioural interventions show promise but are likely to be enhanced by greater theoretical clarity and understanding of resistance to their implementation.     

Individual differences in trait rumination and the neural systems supporting cognitive reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal can alter emotional responses by changing one’s interpretation of a situation’s meaning. Functional neuroimaging has revealed that using cognitive reappraisal to increase or decrease affective responses involves left prefrontal activation and goal-appropriate increases or decreases in amygdala activation (Ochsner, Bunge, Gross, & Gabrieli, 2002; Ochsner, Ray, et al., 2004). The present study was designed to examine whether patterns of brain activation during reappraisal vary in relation to individual differences in trait rumination, which is the tendency to focus on negative aspects of one’s self or negative interpretations of one’s life. Individual differences in rumination correlated with increases in amygdala response when participants were increasing negative affect and with greater decreases in prefrontal regions implicated in self-focused thought when participants were decreasing negative affect. Thus, the propensity to ruminate may reflect altered recruitment of mechanisms that potentiate negative affect. These findings clarify relations between rumination and emotion regulation processes and may have important implications for mood and anxiety disorders.     

Illusory Conjunctions of Color and Motion With Shape Following Bilateral Parietal Lesions

The primate visual system responds to shapes, colors, and various other features more strongly in some brain areas than others. However, it remains unclear how these features are bound together so that an object with all its attributes is perceived. A patient (R.M.) with bilateral parietal-occipital lesions has been shown previously to miscombine the shape and color of items, making errors known as illusory conjunctions (ICs). In this study, we examined the effects of a third feature (motion) on this patient's IC rates. R.M. was presented with two letters that moved in different ways. He often reported seeing the shape of one of the letters with the other letter's motion. His performance on the same task with three features shows that correctly combining two features did not necessarily lead to correctly binding the third. These data support modularity of feature representations in the human brain and provide supporting evidence that spatial representations associated with the parietal lobe are necessary for normal feature integration.