A study reported here indicates that the prevalence of dyslexia in Japan (0.98%) is some ten times lower than in Western countries. Transcultural epidemiology of reading disability is hardly found in psychiatric literature. No investigators refer to specific features of language and script, the direct object of reading behavior. It is proposed in this paper that the specificity of the used language is the most potent contributing factor in the formation of reading disability.
Abstract. In order to investigate the effects of color stimuli of
the Rorschach inkblot method (RIM), the cerebral activity of 40 participants
with no history of neurological or psychiatric illness was scanned while they
engaged in the Rorschach task. A scanned image of the ten RIM inkblots was
projected onto a screen in the MRI scanner. Cerebral activation in response to
five achromatic color cards and five chromatic cards were compared. As a result,
a significant increase in brain activity was observed in bilateral visual areas
V2 and V3, parietooccipital junctions, pulvinars, right superior temporal gyrus,
and left premotor cortex for achromatic color cards (p <
.001). For the cards with chromatic color, significant increase in brain
activity was observed in left visual area V4 and left orbitofrontal cortex
(p < .001). Furthermore, a conjoint analysis revealed
various regions were activated in responding to the RIM. The neuropsychological
underpinnings of the response process, as described by Acklin and Wu-Holt (1996), were largely
confirmed.
Summary
The aim of this article based on a pilot study of 50 schizophrenic children under the age of 15 is to point out that the onset of schizophrenic disorders tends not to occur in late childhood between ages 5 and 10. This gap of incidence pertinent to the age of onset may serve to raise two important questions, namely (1) whether or not we are dealing with the same entity and (2) why schizophrenic disorder does not manifest itself in this particular period if we assume that we are dealing with schizophrenia. Although the present knowledge does not answer those questions, it was shown that the periods of vulnerability for schizophrenic disorder are those in which massive qualitative changes occur in biological as well as in psychological and sociological equilibriums.
In addition, it was suggested that the term “childhood schizophrenia” should be used to denote earlier schizophrenic manifestation with regression other than such specific types described by Kanner or Mahler, since it is likely that there is no childhood schizophrenia with an onset in late childhood that could be correctly called “schizophrenia in older children”. Prepubescent and pubescent schizophrenia may not deserve to be called “childhood schizophrenia” for it does not have any unique features and could be understood merely as an antecedant appearance of adult schizophrenia.
The present research investigated activities in the prefrontal cortex while performing the Rorschach inkblot method (RIM) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Participants who had no history of mental illness or external head injury were presented with three International RIM Cards (I, IV, V) for 30 s each and asked to identify what they looked like. In addition, a picture task was conducted, in which simple pictures were used as visual stimuli and participants were asked to say what they were. Results showed significant increase of oxyhemoglobin over time with nearly all measurement channels on the RIM task. The volume changes in oxyhemoglobin during both the middle and late segments of the RIM task were more significant than those of the picture task in almost all channels with the exception of no significant difference in the middle with a few right lateral channels. With regard to deoxyhemoglobin, on the RIM task, a significant decrease was observed with nearly all channels, but only in some of the task segments. These results are then discussed in regards to the function of the prefrontal cortex.Key words: Rorschach inkblot method, prefrontal cortex, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, projective method, functional imaging technique for brain activity.
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