Perceptual Regulation and Mental Disorder

Dixon, N. F.; Lear, Terence

doi:10.1192/bjp.108.454.356

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…However, it is possible that this result simply reflects a difference in criteria for reporting reversals between depressives and controls. Dixon and Lear (1962) measured the visual difference threshold-that is, the point at which a test patch of varying brightness was judged to be equal in brightness to the constantly illuminated background, of the left eye, while subliminally presenting neutral or emotional words to the right eye. The subjects were endogenous and reactive depressives, paranoid schizophrenics, and normal controls.…”

Section: Visual and Spatial Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological deficit in depression.

Miller

1975

Psychological Bulletin

334

151

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Severe and mild forms of depression are associated with a number of deficits on cognitive, motor, and perceptual tasks and in communication behaviors, but there is little evidence for deficits that are unique to depression. The various subtypes of depression tend to exhibit similar deficits. The studies reviewed have generally been deficient for a number of reasons. These studies have (a) frequently had no theoretical orientation, (b) often failed to define the sample of depressives tested, and (c) rarely made direct comparisons of deficits in different types of depressives. A number of suggestions for future research are made. Hunt and Cofer (1944) denned psychological deficit as the loss of efficiency or decrement in performance exhibited by psychiatric patients relative to normals on intellectual and laboratory tasks. Since their review, a huge amount of research on deficit has been done. Research on schizophrenic deficit has received a great deal of attention, and several comprehensive reviews have critically evaluated this research Shakow, 1963;Yates, 1966). In contrast, the study of psychological deficit in depression has received little attention, and no comprehensive reviews of studies of depressive deficit have previously appeared.This article reviews and evaluates experimental studies of depressive deficit. Such a review is especially important for two reasons. First, it has been suggested that severe depression is associated with only minor impairments in psychological task performance (Friedman, 19,64;Granick, 1963). Yet, the studies reviewed here demonstrate that severe depression is often associated with marked degrees of impairment similar to that ex-

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Section: Visual and Spatial Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological deficit in depression.

Miller

1975

Psychological Bulletin

334

151

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“…Kline indicated that the Freudian concept of repression (a denial of entry into consciousness) and perceptual defense, as used by Bruner and Postman (1947), were exactly the same. He cited studies (Blum, 1954;Dixon & Haider, 1961;Dixon & Lear, 1962;Nelson, 1955;Smock, 1956) demonstrating the phenomenon of perceptual defense, concluding that the experiments were laboratory demonstrations proving the existence of Freud's defense mechanism of repression. None of the studies cited by Kline appeared in the review on studies of repression conducted by Holmes.…”

Section: Research On Repressionmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Recovered Memory Controversy: A Representative Case Study

Colangelo

2009

WCSA

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The recovered memory controversy has been an ongoing debate within the mental health profession for the past two decades. Disagreement remains in the field over the veracity of "forgotten" memories of childhood sexual abuse that are recalled or recovered during therapy. At the heart of the controversy are the concepts of repression and dissociation as well as the impact traumatizing events have on the encoding of memory. This article provides an overview of the central factors in the longstanding debate and presents a detailed clinical case study involving independent corroboration of memories of childhood sexual abuse recovered during treatment, which the author believes provides additional support for the potential veracity of recovered memories.

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“…I n a previous investigation (Dixon & Lear, 1962) it had been found that paranoid schizophrenics and people presenting depressive symptoms appeared to differ from normals in their manner of controlling the reception of affectively loaded material.…”

Section: N F Dixonmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In addition to a re-examination of earlier hdings by using light of different wavelengths the present investigation also involved a comparison between normal subjects and certain classes of psyhiatric patients. I n a previous investigation (Dixon & Lear, 1962) it had been found that paranoid schizophrenics and people presenting depressive symptoms appeared to differ from normals in their manner of controlling the reception of affectively loaded material.…”

Section: N F Dixonmentioning

confidence: 96%

Eeg Correlates of Threshold Regulation as a Function of Stimulus Wavelength: A Comparison Between Normal Subjects and Psychiatric Patients

Dixon

1966

British J of Psychology

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Results of a previous study (Dixon & Lear, 1963, 1964) suggested the perceptual defence effect may be attributable to changes in pre‐awareness levels of cortical activation. The present study looks into this apparent relation between threshold and activation by making use of the fact that the direction of threshold change, under conditions of sympathetic activity, appears to depend upon the wavelength of the stimulus test light. The results, using monochromatic light, suggest that the relation between threshold and activation, in normals and patients, may be less simple than previously supposed.

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Perceptual Regulation and Mental Disorder

Abstract: While anomalies of sensory and perceptual responses characterize many mental disorders it is only recently that any serious attempt has been made to investigate them experimentally.

Cited by 20 publications

References 6 publications

Psychological deficit in depression.

Psychological deficit in depression.

The Recovered Memory Controversy: A Representative Case Study

Eeg Correlates of Threshold Regulation as a Function of Stimulus Wavelength: A Comparison Between Normal Subjects and Psychiatric Patients

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