Peter G. S. Beckett

Autonomic response patterning of chronic schizophrenics.

&NA; Physiologic response patterns during infusions of epinephrine and norepinephrine were examined with regard to their relationships to those of fear and anger. A similarity was found between responses to fear and epinephrine on the one hand, and to anger and norepinephrine on the other. Experiments were done to compare physiologic response patterns of chronic schizophrenic patients with those of nonschizophrenic subjects during the cold pressor test. The majority of schizophrenic patients reacted with a norepinephrine‐like (anger) pattern, whereas control subjects most often reacted with an epinephrine‐like (fear) pattern. The question was raised whether these patterns may have been present before the onset of schizophrenia and hence could play a diagnostic or etiologic role.

Psychophysiological Patterns in Chronic Schizophrenia

This study was done at the Lafayette Clinic, Detroit, where the chief research activity is the interdisciplinary study of schizophrenia. There have been reports of previous studies on carbohydrate metabolism in schizophrenia [1] and on the use of a psychiatric coding system to correlate clinical and biological data [2.] Now our psychophysiology laboratory is completing a series of studies of which this is the second to be reported [3]. As with the previous studies mentioned, there have been many measurements made on the same subjects (often simultaneously) by techniques of biochemistry, physiology, psychology, and psychiatry. In this report we shall deal exclusively with the autonomic responses to three experimental stressors—pain apprehension, the psychodynamic stress interview, and insulin injection.

Biologic responsiveness to environmental stimuli in schizophrenia

Summary Evidence has previously been presented that a plasma factor, measured by the chicken-cell lactate-pyruvate ratio method, is at a higher level in the blood of schizophrenic subjects than control subjects after exercise. The present study examined the question of whether this difference was also present after a cold pressor test or 80 reaction time trials. It was found that after each of these two stress situations the groups could be significantly distinguished (p An explanatory hypothesis is presented which considers the schizophrenic subject as more sensitive than control subjects to the unfamiliar and new in his environment. This maladaptive sensitivity makes him unpredictably responsive to relatively minor environmental stimulation. Studies are now underway to discover the specific biologic mechanism responsible for this response.

Electroencephalographic artifact arising from dental restorations

Abstract Artifact resulting from the presence of metal in a patients mouth has been described. It is suggested that this type of artifact may be ruled out by recording from electrodes placed on the patients face over the area of the metal in the patients mouth.

Biologic effects of infantile restriction in chimpanzees

Summary Previous clinical and animal studies have indicated that monotony in the rearing environment may relate to biologic maladaptation of the type found in schizophrenia. Laboratory-born chimpanzees who had spent their first two years in a controlled environment of monotony and restriction were compared with African-born animals captured as infants. The results indicated that the laboratory-born animals reared under the more restricted conditions showed some tendency towards biologic maladaptation; the less restricted group did not. The African-born animals also showed evidence of biologic disturbance, but since their early environment was far from “normal” (e.g., the capture) and for other reasons it is difficult to evaluate the significance of this finding. It is concluded that the results provide some support to the hypothesis but that small numbers and the unsatisfactory control group prevent this support from being clear-cut.