Stephen F. Butler

Individual Differences in Memory for Dreams: The Role of Cognitive Skills

Ontogenetic findings have suggested a relationship between selected cognitive variables, especially Block Design ability, and REM dream-recall rates. This study investigated the extent to which such cognitive variables could account for individual differences in the REM recall of home-dream “nonreporters,” defined as self-described infrequent recallers who also recorded few dreams in a dream diary. Adult male nonreporters were assigned either to a high Block Design or low Block Design group (n = 6 each). Other cognitive (e.g., memory and visuospatial) abilities were measured to determine relationships to REM recall rates and ratings of dream “salience.” On laboratory REM awakenings, subjects high on Block Design reported significantly more dreams than subjects who were low. However, within the latter group recall rates varied considerably (from 0% recall to 100% recall). This variability is accounted for in terms of an interaction of a dream-generation factor (salience) and a mnemonic factor (interference).

Personality Disorder Styles and Reciprocal Interpersonal Impacts During Outpatient Intake Interviews

This study investigated the relationship between personality disorder styles and the reciprocal interpersonal impacts of patients and intake clinicians. Ninety-two outpatients were interviewed by 29 mental health professionals as part of an intake procedure at a psychiatric outpatient clinic. Following the interview, clinicians and patients rated their perceptions of, and their reactions to, one another. These reciprocal “impact” ratings were analyzed in relation to patient scores on the MMPI Personality Disorder Scales. Most personality disorder styles were associated with increased hostile reciprocal impacts. Histrionic and narcissistic styles, however, were related to increased warm and friendly reciprocal impacts. These results suggest that patients with personality disorder styles elicit constrained reactions from the clinician, misperceive clinician behavior, and / or pull clinicians into constrained interaction patterns. Diese Studie untersuchte die Beziehung zwischen Personlichkeitsstorungsstilen ...

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE RORSCHACH AT RESPONSE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHASIC INTEGRATED POTENTIALS (PIPs) DURING SLEEP

Ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) spikes, which may be the most critical phasic event associated with REM sleep, cannot be recorded directly in humans. A partial indicator of PGO activity in humans is phasic integrated potentials (PIPs). Individuals differ in the degree to which PIPs are dispersed out of REM sleep into NREM sleep. In this study, the PIPs of 15 normal men were recorded during sleep. The following morning they were administered Rorschachs. There was a significant and positive correlation between the frequency of NREM PIPs and the number of Human Movement responses on the Rorschach, replicating the finding of an earlier study.