John M. Neale

Emotion perception in schizophrenia: specific deficit or further evidence of generalized poor performance?

Several studies have investigated the ability of schizophrenics to perceive facial and vocal emotion in others. Although most suggest that schizophrenics have an emotion perception deficit, there is little agreement as to its specific nature. Much of the confusion may be attributed to the failure of investigators to use the differential deficit design and standardized measures of emotion perception. The present study reexamined the question of an emotion recognition deficit in a sample of 29 unmedicated schizophrenics and 23 normal controls, using facial and vocal emotion identification and discrimination tests that have been standardized and cross-validated plus two neuropsychological control tests. Results suggested that differences between schizophrenics and normals on such tasks reflect a generalized performance deficit, rather than a specific emotion recognition deficit.

The Pupil Evaluation Inventory. A sociometric technique for assessing children's social behavior.

The Pupil Evaluation Inventory was developed to assess peer ratings of the behavior of male and female children in grades one through nine. Three homogeneous and stable factors emerged from a factor analysis: Aggression, Withdrawal and Likeability. High interrater agreement between male and female raters, stability of factorial structure, high internal consistency, and moderate concurrent validity were found across sex and grade levels. Test-retest reliability was high for a separate sample of third and sixth graders. There was a tendency for higher internal consistency and teacher-peer correlations for the Aggression factor.

Does trait coping exist? A momentary assessment approach to the evaluation of traits.

This study investigated the extent to which momentary reports of coping are a traitlike phenomenon and the validity of a questionnaire assessment of coping style. Participants (N = 96) completed the questionnaire, then monitored stressful events and coping activities for 2 days using a hand-held computer that administered a brief assessment every 40 min. Momentary reports exhibited a sizable traitlike component: Individual differences accounted for 42% of the variance for 2 coping items and 15-30% of the variance for 15 items. The questionnaire assessment of coping style was a poor predictor of average momentary coping; the coping style measure and the aggregated momentary measure of trait coping shared 23% of their variance for religion and 0-12% for the 16 other coping measures. Self-report assessments of trait coping are poor measures of the trait component of momentary coping and very poor predictors of coping in specific situations.

Effects of marital discord on the school behavior of children of schizophrenic, affectively disordered, and normal parents.

An association between childrens school behavior and two family variables, marital discord and parental psychopathology, has been consistently reported in the literature. However, the joint effects of each of these two familial factors has not been closely examined. The present report provides a further examination of the interrelationships among these three variables with particular emphasis on the effects of marital discord on childrens school behavior in families with behaviorally disturbed parents. Marital discord was found to account for much of the association between having a parent with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression and problematic school behavior, but the same variable did not explain the relationship between having a schizophrenic parent and problems in school. The implications of these findings for interventions with the children of disturbed parents and for high-risk research are discussed.

Development of Common Cold Symptoms Following Experimental Rhinovirus Infection is Related to Prior Stressful Life Events

Previous studies of rhinovirus infection indicate that about one third of the persons with confirmed viral infection do not show evidence of cold symptoms. Factors that determine which infected individuals will develop colds are not known. Using a rhinovirus inoculation protocol, the authors explored the possible role of recent life events, current mood, and perceived stress in the development of symptoms in individuals known to be infected. As part of a larger study, 17 subjects were exposed to a rhinovirus and were individually isolated for 5 consecutive days; cold symptoms, mucus weights, and tissue use were monitored on a daily basis during this period. Although all 17 subjects had confirmed rhinovirus infection, only 12 subjects developed clinical colds, as indicated by self-reported symptoms and by objective symptom indices. The average number of reported major life events for the previous year was significantly higher for those who developed colds than for those who did not (p < .05). Measures of affect and perceived stress before the inoculation were not different for those who did and did not develop colds. Complementing recent research demonstrating psychosocial influences on experimental infection rates, these results provide evidence that the development of cold symptomatology in experimentally infected individuals is related to prior life events.

Delusions and delusional thinking in psychotics: A review of the literature

Abstract Delusional thinking in psychotics is discussed in terms of definition, classification, and relevance to diagnosis. Theoretical explanations of delusions are then reviewed. While many explanations and theories on delusional thinking exist, some merely restate in different terms the same relationships, and most do not enjoy empirical support. It is concluded that existing theories, can be usefully organized into two main themes: motivational and defect. The motivational theme assumes that the individual develops the delusion either to explain unusual perceptual experiences or to reduce uncomfortable psychic states (e.g., unfullfilled need). The defect theme argues that delusional thinking results from some fundamental cognitive-attentional deficit. Future empirical work ought to pursue specific models which address some important distinctions among delusion types.

The effect of anti-psychotic medication and diagnostic criteria on distractibility in schizophrenia ☆ ☆☆

THE relative inability of some schizophrenic patients to attend selectively to sensory stimuli was noted in the earlier clinical observations of the disorder. KRAEPELIN~, for example, reported that some patients manifested “a kind of irresistible attraction of the attention to casual external impressions.” The phenomenological accounts of newly admitted schizophrenics reported by MCGHIE and CHAPMAN~ lent credence to the notion that the impairment of cognitive functions by the presence of distraction may be a primary deficit, central to our understanding of the disorder. McGhie and Chapman’s patients described experiencing a pronounced change in their attentional and perceptual abilities, particularly the ability to selectively organize and control incoming stimuli. This report was later substantiated by FREEDMAN and CHAPMAN~ who interviewed groups of schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients at intake using a standardized questionnaire. They found that, among other experiences, the schizophrenic group more frequently reported impaired speech perception, inability to focus attention, increased distractibility by external stimuli and irrelevant thoughts, and impairments in concentration which were attributed to factors other than preoccupation with personal problems. Half of these schizophrenics reported an attentional deficit like the one observed by McGhie and Chapman. Taking these clinical reports into the laboratory, many investigators have sought to demonstrate that the presence of irrelevant stimuli interferes more with the perceptual and cognitive processes of schizophrenics than with the performance of various control samples.+8 The typical design has required schizophrenics and control subjects to perform a simple perceptual or recall task in both the presence and absence of distracting stimuli. The usual result has been that schizophrenics’ performance resembles that of control

Peer evaluations of the competence of children vulnerable to psychopathology

Peer evaluations of the behavior of 75 children of schizophrenic mothers, 57 children of depressed mothers, and 153 controls were collected using the Pupil Evaluation Inventory. The children, both boys and girls, were in grades 2 through 9. Both male and female children of schizophrenics were viewed more deviantly than controls on Aggression and Unhappiness-Withdrawal factors. Only the female children of schizophrenics were viewed as less likable than controls. In general, children of schizophrenics did not differ from children of depressives. The exception was the older daughters of schizophrenics, who were rated as more deviant than members of both the remaining groups.

Secretory IgA as a measure of immunocompetence.

The field of psychoimmunology has rapidly expanded in recent years and various parameters of the immune system have been examined in relation to psychological factors. The secretory immune system is one of the more interesting aspects of the entire immune system because it protects mucosal membranes from invading organisms. Stress-produced changes in secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) as measured by radial immunodiffusion assays have been reported in several studies. We present three reasons why total s-IgA protein, the measure derived from radial immunodiffusion assays, may not be a reasonable measure of immune system functioning, and we suggest an alternative method for examining secretory IgA that focuses on s-IgA antibody response to a novel antigen.

Medication effects: Conceptual and methodological issues in schizophrenia research

Abstract The majority of schizophrenia research is conducted with patients medicated with neuroleptics. This medication has powerful and widespread effects on various neurotransmitter systems. A review of the cognitive and motor side effects of neuroleptics, as well as the cognitive side effects of anticholinergic medication, leads to the conclusion that such side effects must be acknowledged as potentially serious confounds. Strategies available to researchers to assess, control for, or avoid these medication effects are discussed and their limitations noted. Finally, recent developments are discussed that may afford researchers an opportunity to more readily obtain drug-free patients; also, recommendations are provided for research conducted with medicated participants.