"Chasing ones losses" is a key symptom among pathological gamblers (PGs). This study focuses on quantitative differences in episodic chasing (i.e., sequences of disadvantageous decisions within a single gambling session) between PGs and non-pathological gamblers (NPGs). We compared 61 PGs and 39 NPGs on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). The PGs showed significantly more chasing and had significantly poorer decision-making strategies than NPGs, particularly among males (F = 4.52, p < 0.05). Random players were significantly less sensation seeking than advantageous and disadvantageous (i.e., chasing) players, but there was no interaction with group or gender. The results suggest that quantifiable within-session gambling behavior holds important implications for detecting underlying vulnerabilities to gambling pathology.

The question of the status of cause-and-effect explanations of human behavior that posit physically existing causative factors and those that, on the other hand, posit hypothetical entities in the form of "useful fictions" has a long history. The influence of the works of Jeremy Bentham and Hans Vaihinger, as well as the later influence of Francis Galton, is described. Issues of the validity of hypothetical constructs and related problems of measurement and definition as found in psychoanalytic theory construction and in trait theory are examined. The significant and continuing interest generated by the landmark studies of K. MacCorquodale and P. E. Meehl (1948) and L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) as well as the central importance of P. E. Meehl's thinking are described.

Paul E. Meehl made numerous contributions to clinical science and a hallmark of many of these contributions was their integrative nature. Meehl's positions on complex topics, especially one such as schizophrenia, were reflective of input from a variety of disciplines and levels of analysis. In this essay the authors focus on Meehl's uniquely rich contribution to our understanding of schizophrenia through his theoretical model of schizotypy, his abiding interest in exploring neurologically based indicators of schizophrenia liability and encouragement to others to pursue such indicators, and his passion for rigorous research methodology. Meehl's contributions in each of these areas continue to influence the direction and research strategies used in experimental psychopathology to illuminate the fundamental nature of schizophrenia. These contributions have also shaped inquiry into many other psychopathological entities.

We examined the control of motor behavior in relation to age of first diagnosis (AFD; an approximation of age of onset) in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that earlier AFD reflects increased vulnerability to the disorder, vulnerability that may be indexed by elevated levels of motor abnormality. AFD, symptom and demographic features, motor performance on a line drawing task, and the presence and severity of dyskinesia and extrapyramidal side effects were evaluated in 65 chronic schizophrenia subjects. More severely impaired motor control was significantly related to an earlier age of diagnosis. Potential confounds, including age, gender, education, length of illness, current medication dosage, symptom status, and motor side effects, did not appear to influence this relationship, although greater chronicity appeared to be independently related to more severely impaired motor control. In summary, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that an earlier AFD is associated with more pronounced motor impairment.

Three of Meehl’s major concerns are examined in this summary. They are the problem of null-hypothesis testing as a strategy, the central significance of heterogeneity in human behavior, and the over-dependence on rating scales with their inherent lack of precision.

The purpose of this study was comparing the phonological and semantic priming on the short verbal memory span. The research was conducted on sixty four male students of Tehran University of Medicinal Science. Due to some distorting factors on the reaction time, some exclusion criteria were adapted such as bilingualism, stuttering, articulation problems, etc. The qualified subjects were tested by auditory-discrimination test (Wepman test). Then all subjects were performed a test that was prepared under second version of DMDX software and the reaction time and accuracy were recorded. The results reveal that the semantic tasks were retrieved faster and better than the other tasks in lexical access. Then, riming tasks were retrieved. There was no significant difference between the alliteration and unrelated prime. In accuracy tasks, the difference between …

Cognitive models of psychopathology provide opportunities and challenges for both the research psychopathologist and the clinician concerned with practical applications to individuals. Heterogeneity of individual pathology within diagnostic categories, heterogeneity of content within symptom categories, undue reliance on judgment-based ratings, and frequent emphasis on deficit rather than the overt behavior of the patients are some of the major issues. Others include the complex interaction between cognitive and affective processes and the fact that input-output functions are often nonlinear and marked by critical threshold values for the appearance of overt pathology. An important feature of models is the discipline that they introduce into theorizing about psychopathology plus the focus on precise quantification.

Motor abnormalities have long been a focus in discussions of schizophrenia. The present study used a newly developed line drawing task to examine fine motor performance and psychometrically assessed schizotypy in a large, randomly ascertained sample of young adults (N = 120) with no history of psychosis. Poor motor performance on the line drawing task, indexed by root-mean-square error (RMS), was significantly related to 4 separate psychometric measures of schizotypy in the overall sample. The psychometric schizotypy-RMS association remained significant for 2 of the schizotypy measures even when the effects of intellectual functioning, mental state factors, and sustained attention were statistically controlled in a regression analysis. The status of the line drawing index as a schizophrenia liability measure is discussed.

Data from the National Research Council's 1995 study of doctoral programs provide a basis for the comparison of research-oriented Ph.D. programs in psychology and Ph.D. programs of professional-applied schools. The latter present a profile of faculty resources, attributes, and activities that differs sharply from that found in the research-oriented programs, and in Ph.D. programs in the other behavioral and social sciences. The difference in profiles suggests that the professional programs conduct Ph.D. training that departs from the training ordinarily regarded as necessary for the award of that degree.

The authors investigated age disorientation in chronic schizophrenia to determine whether specific symptomatic, neurologic, and cognitive disturbances were linked to its presentation. Disorientation to their age was detected in 30% (16/54) of the schizophrenic patients in a chronic care facility. In matched comparisons, age-disoriented patients showed lower educational achievement, poorer mental state performance, and a greater severity of symptoms, as well as more severe motor and sensory impairments. Levels of social withdrawal did not differentiate the two groups. A two-hit model consistent with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative processes is proposed to explain the data.

Deficient ability to take advantage of predictable elements in the performance of cognitive tasks has been proposed as an underlying factor for a number of deviances in schizophrenia. In a schizophrenic sample (n=39), we propose and test the view that certain memory and motor anomalies arise because of a compromise in the capacity to take advantage of the redundant (predictable) features of cognitive tasks. Results demonstrate a relationship between reduced capacity to take advantage of predictable features of two different cognitive processing tasks, one verbal memory, and the other motor. Poorer verbal recall on high-redundancy word lists was associated with a reduced ability to produce synchronous finger tapping in response to a high redundancy auditory stimulus, and inversely correlated with formal thought disorder ratings. These relationships, we suggest, reflect a specific and common schizophrenic deficit in the use of redundancies, not attributable to a generalized deficiency in performance. Structural imaging evidence from a subsample of these subjects (n=16) implicates frontal areas as the locus of this cognitive impairment.

This study focused on the symptomatic and cognitive effects of the atypical antipsychotic clozapine in chronic hospitalized schizophrenia patients. Further, it explored how these effects might be related to discharge, an important functional outcome. Patients were assessed at baseline and at regular intervals with clinical instruments and a cognitive battery. Clozapine treatment produced symptomatic and cognitive improvements, positive changes that appeared to occur independently of one another. Baseline cognitive performance, as well as cognitive change with treatment, predicted discharge. Further investigation of the effects of clozapine and other atypical antipsychotics on cognition and functional outcome is warranted.

Journal Article Anomalous Experience in Everyday Life: Its Significances for Psychopathology Get access Brendan A. Maker Brendan A. Maker Department of Psychology Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar The Monist, Volume 82, Issue 4, 1 October 1999, Pages 547–570, https://doi.org/10.5840/monist199982428 Published: 16 December 2014

BACKGROUND:Investigators have reported lack of normal asymmetry of lateralization in some schizophrenic patients, as measured postmortem and by preference and/or performance. It has been suggested that this lack of asymmetry is related to early onset of schizophrenia. The present study extends the inquiry by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurement of volumetric asymmetry.METHODS:Hemispheric asymmetry of volume in regional gray matter was examined in 16 schizophrenic patients who had undergone MRI of brain volume.RESULTS:Low levels of hemispheric asymmetry in the frontal and temporal areas were strongly associated with early onset of schizophrenia, the association with frontal volume being more marked than with temporal volume. No relationship was found in the other brain areas that were scanned. The findings were not artifacts of chronological age, nor of extreme scores in a small sample.CONCLUSIONS:These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that failure to develop asymmetry is an important component of the pathology underlying some forms of schizophrenia.

The significance of amenorrhea as a criterion for anorexia nervosa was examined. Twelve nonamenorrheic women treated for anorexia were compared with 40 women meeting full DSM-IV criteria. The nonamenorrheic group displayed the same high levels of eating disorder, body-image disturbance, and psychopathology as the amenorrheic group, as measured by the following variables: body-size overestimation on the Image Marking Procedure; body distortion on the Body Distortion Questionnaire; eating disorder on the Eating Disorder Inventory; depression on the Beck Depression Inventory; psychopathology on the MMPI; and external locus of control on the Rotter Locus of Control Scale. Amenorrhea does not appear to be a useful criterion for distinguishing full-syndrome anorexia nervosa from partial-syndrome cases. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.

In this paper we suggest a new method, conceived by Maher, to assess lateralized motor performance in schizophrenia. Subjects draw two straight lines with each hand. The lines are scanned into a computer, and a regression is run on the points of the line. The root mean squared error (RMS) of the regression equation indicates the deviation from straightness of the line. The average RMS of all four lines is taken as an overall measure of motor disorder, and the difference in performance between the two hands serves as an index of motoric laterality. Scores on the motor disorder index were significantly positively related to clinical ratings of Parkinsonism among schizophrenic inpatients. A marginal relation was found to ratings of voluntary movement disorders, and the task was not associated with dyskinetic movements. Scores on the motor disorder measure were significantly worse for schizophrenic subjects than for staff controls. The laterality index significantly differentiated right- and left-handed subjects, but did not differentiate schizophrenic from control subjects. Maher's simple line drawing task yields objective continuous ratings of motor disorder and handedness and may be a useful tool for examining associations between motor functioning and cognition and symptomatology in schizophrenia.