Steven Schwartz

Marital discord and treatment outcome in behavioral treatment of child conduct disorders

Research assessing the role of marital variables in the treatment of childhood conduct disorders is scarce. The aim of this study was (a) to assess the role of marital discord in the overall outcome of a program training parents in behavioral techniques (behavioral parent training) and (b) to assess the effects of an adjunctive treatment (partner support training [PST]) on outcome. The latter treatment focused on marital conflict, communication, and problem solving. Twenty-four families with a child diagnosed as oppositional or conduct disordered were assigned to either a marital-discord group (n = 12) or a no-marital-discord group (n = 12). Families within each group were then randomly assigned to either child management training (CMT) alone or CMT with PST. Measures of child deviance, parenting behavior, and marital satisfaction were collected at pre- and posttraining and at a 6-month follow-up. Results indicated a significant interaction between marital discord and treatment type on most measures at follow-up but not at posttraining. Although PST added little to the maintenance of change for the nondiscordant group, it produced significant gains over those who received CMT only for the discordant group. Further results highlighting the interaction of marital and treatment variables are discussed.

Is there a schizophrenic language

Among the many peculiarities of schizophrenics perhaps the most obvious is their tendency to say odd things. Indeed, for most clinicians, the hallmark of schizophrenia is “thought disorder” (which is usually defined tautologically as incoherent speech). Decades of clinical observations, experimental research, and linguistic analyses have produced many hypotheses about what, precisely, is wrong with schizophrenic speech and language. These hypotheses range from assertions that schizophrenics have peculiar word association hierarchies to the notion that schizophrenics are suffering from an intermittent form of aphasia. In this article, several popular hypotheses (and the observations on which they are based) are critically assessed. Work in the area turns out to be flawed by errors in experimental method, faulty observations, tautological reasoning, and theoretical models that ignore the complexities of both speech and language. This does not mean that schizophrenics are indistinguishable from nonschizophrenics. They are clearly deviant in many situations. Their problem, however, appears to be in processing information and in selective attention, not in language itself.

Laterality effects in visual information processing: Hemispheric specialisation or the orienting of attention?

The notion that visual laterality patterns may be attributable to attentional allocation rather than hemispheric specialisation was examined in three experiments. In Experiment I, high verbal ability subjects were found to be less lateralised on a letter name match task than low verbals. In Experiment II, stimulus probability was shown to affect laterality patterns for name but not for physical matches. Again, low verbals were affected more than highs. Experiment III produced results identical to those of Experiment II although, in the latter experiment, visual fields were defined vertically rather than horizontally from the midline. Together, these results support the following generalisations: (1) visual asymmetries have their locus in a post-perceptual information processing stage; (2) visual asymmetries may be altered by manipulating stimulus probability; (3) verbal ability differences in laterality may not reflect neuroanatomical differences but merely cognitive capacity and (4) it may be unnecessary to invoke differential hemispheric specialisation in order to account for visual lateral asymmetries.

Can group differences in hemispheric asymmetry be inferred from behavioral laterality indices

A large and often contradictory literature purports to demonstrate different patterns--or at least different degrees--of hemispheric specialization across various groups of people. Schizophrenics, dyslexics, stutterers, musicians, Orientals, Jews, and many other groups have been alleged to display idiosyncratic laterality patterns. An examination of this literature reveals three important problems. First the groups concerned are rarely homogeneous. This makes it difficult to know which group characteristics, if any, are responsible for the observed differences. Second, most behavioral laterality indices are of low reliability making group differences highly unstable. Third, the validity of many behavioral laterality indices has not been substantiated. Because of these problems, it is concluded that caution should be exercised in using and interpreting laterality measures to make between-group comparisons. For now at least, group differences in laterality cannot be inferred.

Hemispheric Lateralization of Language in Autistic and Aphasic Children.

The profound language deficit in early infantile autism has led to speculation about the similarities between autistic and language-impaired children. Since aphasia in adults and many children is typically the result of left cerebral hemisphere damage, some researchers have suggested that autistic children also suffer from left hemisphere damage. So far, only indirect or unreliable evidence has been offered in support of this hypothesis. In the present experiment, autistic, language-impaired, and non-language-impaired children were compared on a dichotic listening task designed to overcome some of the deficiencies of earlier research. Language-impaired children were found to exhibit a left ear bias for language material (indicating right hemisphere lateralization for language), whereas the autistic and non-language-impaired children showed the opposite, right ear bias. As the autistic children showed a pattern similar to that of normal children, the present experiment found no evidence for either left hemisphere damage or aphasiclike performance among autistic children. The implications of these findings for understanding the autistic language deficit are explored.

Are there different methods of lexical access for words presented in the left and right visual fields

Visual field differences can arise from hemispheric specializations or perceptual asymmetries. Deciding which of the two is responsible for a particular visual field difference is a recurrent problem for researchers concerned with lateral asymmetries. In the present paper, the difficulties involved in interpreting visual field asymmetries are discussed as they apply to the Young and Ellis (1985) research on the interactive effects of word length and visual hemifield on the recognition of English words. We show that one of their critical results disappears when small changes are made to their experimental procedure. Our data demonstrate that the visual field differences Young and Ellis reported were the result of preceptual asymmetries rather than different methods of lexical access in the two cerebral hemispheres.

Behavioral or hemispheric asymmetry: Is there a default option?☆

The presence of acuity gradients as a moderating variable in hemifield research is not in question. Their importance as a determinant of hemifield differences is unclear, however. The major issues are as follows. First, do vertical displays provide an appropriate control for the acuity gradient? Second, do the initial letters of a word play a critical role in word recognition, either in information-theoretic terms or because the lexicon is itself organized around access codes based on the initial letter or letters of words? Third, do behavioral and hemispheric accounts provide equally attractive explanations of Task Level X Visual Field interactions? Fourth, if the two accounts are equally attractive on empirical grounds, which is to be preferred? Each of these issues is addressed in this reply to M. P. Brydens (1986, Brain and Cognition, 5, 362-368) and J. Helliges (1986, Brain and Cognition, 5, 369-376) comments on our article (K. Kirsner & S. Schwartz 1986, Brain and Cognition, 5, 354-361).

Language disabilities in infantile autism: A brief review and comment

Experimental studies of autistic childrens memory for linguistic materials have yielded what appear to be conflicting results. A review of these studies reveals a pattern of findings consistent with the hypothesis that autistics do, in fact, have a special linguistic coding difficulty. The apparent discrepancies are the result of the use of low-power statistical tests in some experiments. Because the autistic deficit may arise from a failure to use semantic or syntactic knowledge or even from a failure to acquire such knowledge in the first place, future research should be aimed at explicating the precise mechanisms underlying the autistic deficit.

Power and speed components of individual differences in letter matching

Abstract Several previous studies have reported a correlation (typically around −.30) between standardized verbal ability test scores and name identity minus physical identity reaction times (NI-PI) in a letter-matching task. This correlation has usually been thought to reflect the mutual dependence of both measures on long-term memory access time. The present research was designed to assess Carrolls (1981) suggestions that: (a) NI — PI may not be the optimal formula for predicting standardized test scores from letter matching data, and (b) NI — PI may actually be related to the speed rather than the power component of standardized tests. Fifty-one subjects previously tested with a standardized reading test participated in letter-matching and word-reading tasks. The latter tasks required subjects to read words and specially constructed pseudowords. Power and speed measures were derived from the word-reading tasks and the standardized test on theoretical grounds (and supported by a principal components analysis). The results supported both of Carrolls contentions. NI — PI reaction time was related more to speed than power and the NI — PI statistic (as usually used) was not the optimum formula for predicting standardized test scores.

Designing a university clinical research and training environment: Our experience in the behaviour research and therapy centre

This paper examines the organisational, interpersonal, and political processes involved in setting up specialised clinical research and training facilities within Australian universities. The Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre (BRTC) at the University of Queensland is discussed as an example to illustrate the tasks involved in setting up and maintaining a clinical research and training facility. We also discuss some of the organisational obstacles to designing clinical facilities and possible strategies for overcoming them. Designing a training environment creates opportunities to apply principles of environmental design, organisational psychology, and behaviour modification.