Henry Bachrach

Preconditions and Consequences of Transference Interpretations: A Clinical-quantitative Investigation

Our aim was to study the preconditions and consequences of transference interpretations by both quantitative and clinical methods. We selected the three specimen psychoanalytic treatments which had been studied most by clinical-quantitative research. For each patient the main data consisted of 16 interpretation contexts. The context of each interpretation included 250 patient words before and 250 patient words after the interpretation. Three judges independently rated these before and after segments for each of the 16 samples from each of the three patients. Judges tended to agree highly in rating these segments on nine variables. The before vs. after ratings showed that each patient had a different but individually typical response to the 16 interpretations, ranging from patient A who usually showed a negative response, to patient B who showed some positive response, to patient C who showed a very positive response. For each of these three patients there was a clear parallel between the positivity of the immediate response to interpretations and the outcome of treatment. Even though we have so far studied only three patients, the consistency of the results suggests that it would be worth testing in a larger group whether a sample of immediate responses to interpretations might predict the eventual outcome of the treatment. Patient factors seem central in explaining the bases for the different response of each of the three patients to transference interpretations. The Health-Sickness Rating Scale ratings showed that patient A and patient B were less healthy initially than patient C— healthier patients may be able to respond better to transference interpretations. Also, the analyses of the segments before the interpretation revealed that even before the interpretation there were differences in the three patients. These were consistent with their differing responses to interpretation; for example, patient A was rated as having less understanding than the other patients even before the interpretations. Another patient factor, the patients readiness to experience a helping relationship, probably was significant also in explaining the differing response of the three patients to interpretations; they already differed in this experience by the third to fifth sessions, and these differences paralleled their response to interpretation.

Studies in the Expanded Word Association Test: I. Effects of Cerebral Dysfunction

Summary The effects of cerebral dysfunction upon responses to the Expanded Word Association Test were studied among psychiatric patients. Psychiatric patients suffering from impairments in cerebral functioning showed significantly (p < .001) more blocking, multi-words and repetitions, irrespective of the type of stimulus word, than psychiatric patients judged free of such impairment. By weighing these variables with discriminant function coeficients it was possible to effectively discriminate between the groups, with only four misclassifications out of ninety patients. The results were discussed in relation to a previous experiment where similar findings had been obtained, and to the use of the test as a clinical tool.

EFFECTS OF ENDBRAIN LESIONS ON VISUAL DISCRIMINATION LEARNING IN PIGEONS

While there has been considerable study of the avain forebrain, we still have little understanding of its role in behavior. Zeigler (1963) found that lesions restricted to hyperstriatal areas produced deficits in pattern and intensity discrimination. Because this region is itself composed of two areas, a hyperstriatum and an accessory hyperstrian~m, it was not possible to determine to which area the deficits were attributable. The present study was designed to investigate the role of these two areas in visual discrimination learning by training 12 adult male pigeons to 90% criterion for 50 trials on two consecutive days to make pattern (triangle vs circle), intensity (high vs low), and color (red vs green) discriminations in key pecking, balancing stimulus and transfer effects. Ss were then divided into four surgical groups (unilateral and bilateral lesions for each area) and retested. Ablation of either accessory hyperstriatum produced deficits in visual discrimination confirming the findings of Zeigler (1963). While unilateral lesions were not accompanied by deficits, bilateral lesions of accessory hyperstriatum produced deficits in pattern discrimination (p < .08) and bilateral lesions of hyperstriatum produced deficits in color discrimination (p < .08). These results suggest that the deficit^ produced were more a function of the extent of the lesion rather than its loczls. Ss with lesions in accessory hyperstriatum showed no differences in color or intensity discrimination, and Ss with lesions in hyperstriatum showed no differences in pattern or intensity discrimination. Examination of the learning curves for these Ss indicated that the original learning on those tasks in which no deficit was produced was better, suggesting that the magnitz~de of the deficit was, in paTt, a function of difficulty in original learning and inherent problem difficulty rather than the specific cype of problem, i.e., pattern discrimination. It was also noted that positive and negative transfer effects in the sequential presentation of problems with similar elements conuibute to retention after ablation as well as original learning. It, therefore, seems methodologically important to minimize transfer effects when studying the effects of ablation on learning.