Sex differences in perceptual differentiation and stimulus intensity control.

Abstract

The relationships between personality measures and electroencephalogram average evoked response measures of perceptual differentiation and stimulus intensity control were studied in two groups of male and female subjects. Significantly different patterns of sex differences and of correlations between the two types of evoked response measures were found. For example, among males, high anxiety and high neuroticism tended to be associated with undifferentiated perceptual responsiveness and stimulus intensity augmentation; however, among females, high anxiety and high neuroticism were associated with differentiated perceptual responsiveness and stimulus intensity reduction.This study is concerned with sex differences on two perceptual response dimensions: perceptual differentiation and stimulus intensity control. The first has been described in such terms as "field dependent-field independent" (Witkin, Lewis, Hertzman, Machover, Meisner, & Wapner, 1954), "inarticulated-articulated" (Garner, Holtzman, Klein, Linton, & Spence, 1959), and "yielding-counteracting" (Bauermeister, Wapner, & Werner, 1963). Numerous investigators have used the rodand-frame test (RFT) in studies of the ways in which individuals differentiate and structure the perceptual field. Although recent reports have indicated the need for a more complex formulation of RFT performance than has previously been considered (e.g., Silverman, 1967Silverman, , 1968Silverman & King, 1970), the research value of the RFT as a measure of perceptual differentiation is, in the main, well documented. The second dimension, stimulus intensity control, has been extensively studied by Petrie (1967), Buchsbaum and

Frontal Auditory-Evoked Potential Augmenting-Reducing and Urinary Homovanillic Acid

“…Present data showed low sexrelated differences for amplitude-intensity slopes re corded both at Cz and Fz, the greatest slopes are ob tained in females. This was partly in accordance with other results describing a male-reducer/female-augmenter tendency in visual modality [Buchsbaum et al, 1974;Buchsbaum and Pfefferbaum, 1971;Silverman et al. 1973], Present biochemical results show absence of sex-related difference in mean u-HVA excretion.…”

Further Evidence for an Association of 5-HTTLPR with Intensity Dependence of Auditory-Evoked Potentials

“…The inclusion criteria were applied to control or keep constant major confounding factors that are related to either 5-HTTLPR genotype or serotonergic neurotransmission, or that have a strong impact on auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs). As gender influences serotonergic neurotransmission, as with gender-specific effects of serotonin transporter alterations, for example (Amin et al, 2005;Barr et al, 2004b;Bouali et al, 2003;Currie et al, 2004;Dominguez et al, 2003;Halbreich et al, 1995;Nishizawa et al, 1997;Rubinow et al, 1998;Williams et al, 2003), and because gender also impacts IAEP 5-HTTLPR and intensity dependence T Hensch et al (Bruneau et al, 1986;Camposano and Lolas, 1992;Schwerdtfeger and Baltissen, 1999;Silverman et al, 1973), only male subjects were included in the sample. Sampling a female population would have increased the sample size unreasonably, as it would have then been necessary to control the effects of the menstrual cycle and contraceptives on AEPs (Walpurger et al, 2004).…”

Augmenting/Reducing: an Adaptive Switch Mechanism to Cope with Incoming Signals in Healthy Subjects and Psychiatric Patients

“…Also Buchsbaum and Silverman (7) found a steeper intensity-response function for the V.AER in males. In later studies, by the same authors, however (3,6,8,49), a male-reducer/female-augmenter pattern is reported as the norm. Von Knorring (26) found a similar proportion of Aug and Red among the two sexes.…”

“…Soskis and Shagass (50), using sine wave stimulation, found a corre lation between Aug and E score of the EPI, but no correlation with the N score. Silverman et al (49) used a personality test battery comprising a facilitationinhibition scale (FIS), the Welch anxiety index (WAI), a masculinity-feminity scale (MFS) and the A-B psychotherapist scale (ABPS), and a stimulation proce dure consisting of tilted line segments presented as light blue lines on a black background. Among other results, the authors found that among males high anxiety and high neuroticism were associated with Aug, whereas among females high anxiety and high neuroticism were associated with Red.…”