Operant Motor Behavior in Acute Schizophrenics¹

Abstract

W HiLE FEW STUDIES of psychopathology have been concerned with psychomotor functions in comparison with the emphasis upon perceptual and verbal processes, some recent findings indicate that this neglect is not justified Peters and Jenkins (8) have used psychomotor problem-solving as a therapeutic approach to chronic schizophrenics H E King (4) has compared the performance of several groups of neuropsychiatric subjects with a group of normals on a series of simple psychomotor tasks, finding a direct relationship between impaired performance and degree of neuropsychiatric illness He concludes on the basis of his results that "the psychomotor capacity appears to be disturbed in a fundamental sense m the behavior disorders As such, it is a reflection of defect at the core, rather than in the periphery, of mind and mental processes" (p 156) Skinner and his associates (2, 6) have investigated the behavior of chronic psychotics with the methods of operant conditioning that were developed for the study of lower organisms A remforced operant response is viewed as a behavioral unit that manipulates part of the environment, representing as such "adjustive behavior " Usmg modified vending machines in small experimental rooms, they have studied the quanitity and regularity of operant behavior of psychotics under a variety of conditions Their most consistent finding 'From the Veterans Adnunistration Hospital, Battle Creek, Michigan

A reaction potential ceiling and response decrements in complex situations.

“…There may be competing but unrecorded responses. For example, when drive is varied to include sufficiently high levels, the U shaped relationship between drive and performance would be expected with operant bar pressing by human subjects (King, Merrell, Lovinger, & Denny, 1957) or the pecking response in pigeons (Thomas & King, 1959) even though only one response is recorded in such studies. Perhaps peripheral (noncortical) physiological measures are least likely to be influ-enced by response competition.…”

Learning and psychopathology.

“…There are many indications that severity of illness is inversely related to learning performance; that is, the "deeper" the psychosis and the more chronic, the poorer the learning (Hall & Crookes, 1951;Mednick & Lindsley, 1958;Peters, 1956;Smith, 1959). In one study (King, Merrell, Lovinger, & Denny, 1957) this did not hold, but here only acute schizophrenics were used, and since acute schizophren-ics have been shown to be alike in learning performance (Long, 1960) the presumption is that they are all equally ill.…”

Learning Theory and Child Psychology: Therapeutic Possibilities

“…After nearly two decades of persistent laboratory investigations (mostly with animals) Skinner and his colleagues are now exploring the applications of operant conditioning in diverse areas of human behaviour. The topics which they have probed include the effects of drugs (Dews, 1956), attention (Holland, 1957), learning (Spiker, 1960), psychotic behaviour (Lindsley, 1956), motor behaviour (Verplank, 1956), verbal behaviour (Skinner, 1957;Krasner, 1958;Salzinger, 1959), therapy and the effects of therapy (Lindsley, 1961;King, 1957), psychological functioning in retarded children (Bijou and Orlando, 1961;Spradlin, 1961;Ellis, 1962), personality Brady ^/a/., 1962).…”