Dementia praecox: A psychological study.

Inappropriate Affect

“…The fact that deficit is most clearly demonstrable in the field of speed agrees well with the results of other investigations which show that slowing is the abnormality most easily brought out by present test methods in patients suffering from functional psychoses (Shapiro and Nelson, 1955). Babcock suggested 20 years ago that the apparent lack of emotion in schizophrenia may be due to slowness of response (Babcock, 1933). It is not impossible that speed alone is the responsible factor.…”

Reward and Punishment as Determiners of Reminiscence Effects in Schizophrenic and Normal Subjects1

“…The Phillips Scale of Premorbid Level of Adjustment m Schizophrenia (26) IS an attempt to evaluate the adequacy of the adjustment patterns of the patient in meeting common lifetime stresses As defined by the scale, the SP-P group is comprised of patients whose adjustive patterns of soaal and sexual behavior have been characterized by a withdrawal from both intimate and casual interpersonal relationships Since threat of censure and failure have been assumed to be the antecedents for such madequate adjustive responses two inferences can be drawn regardmg the behavior of schizophrenic patients whose premorbid histories suggest long-term patterns of inadequacy In comparison with normal 5"^ and schizophrenic patients with good premorbid histories the SP-P patients (1) would presumably be more sensitized to threat of punishment and (2) their adjustive reactions to stressful situations would be less adaptive The results of the present study are consistent with such assumptions and confirmed Phillips' findings that such patients perform less adequately in a motor task following the introduction of stress ' It IS apparent that the schizophrenic patients used in the present • Personal communication from L Phillips investigation were not homogeneous in their reaction to censure The SP-G does not show the marked effects exhibited by the SP-P 5"j Two possible explanations may be advanced to account for these findings Schizophrenic .Jj whose premorbid histories suggest good adjustment to the usual hfe stresses may be better able to cope with the simple censure employed in laboratory tasks Thus, punishment would produce fewer interferences for them than It would for the SP-P group Secondly, it is possible that the simplicity of the present learning task may have lessened any traumatic effects pimishment would have had upon these 5J In a situation involving greater stress for Ss either through the introduction of a more difficult learning task or the use of a response measure of greater complexity the SP-G group would perhaps react to social punishment in a manner similar to the SP-P Ss An additional findmg in the present study was the failure to discover any differences between the normal or schizophrenic groups m regard to rate of learning and retention These results were not predicted since studies by Hull (14), Babcock (2), Kent (20), Kendig and Richmond (19), and Huston and Shakow (17, 18) had mdicated that schizophrenic jratients showed markedly poorer learning ability when compared with normal Ss Several factors may account for the discrepancies in the results (1) The schizophrenic 5"^ used m the present study were patients in a Veterans Administration Hospital Taken as a group they had made a fairly adequate adjustment up to the time of entering service Their criteria for selection also stressed the use of young, acute, cooperative patients of average intelligence These factors may account for the more effective performance of these patients c«i the learning task. (2) The type of learning situation which was used was undoubtedly of major importance A deliberate attempt was made to choose a task which would maintain the patient's interest and would not be too difficult for him It is not unlikely that the nature of the learning task did play a large part in determining the results, thus substantiating the data of recent investigators who have also been concerned with utilizing engrossing tasks (6,8) m an eflFort to produce equally effective laboratory behavior m schizophrenic and normal i'j…”

An Investigation of the Nature of Cognitive Impairment in Co‐operative Psychiatric Patients

“…Patients 'who have the same ability as do normals to see relations, draw generalizations, and to learn to express them symbolically are seen to differ in the efficiency (i.e. speed) with which they can utilize that ability' (Babcock, 1933).…”

“…This is probably the cause of the defective learning and constitutes the defect which is elementary to the condition in general.' Slowness 'affects both those processes which are needed in the performance of DISCREPANCY 16-2 continuous work of a simple nature, and those which are needed to give meaning to new data' (Babcock, 1933).…”