A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Gill, Kathleen M.
Language:	English
Published:	Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK 1977
Subjects:	Psychology
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1566463048510994

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu15664630485109942021-08-03T07:12:44Z A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function Gill, Kathleen M. Psychology The purpose of the experiment was to extend the application of behavioral tests of brain functional asymmetries to process and reactive schizophrenics to determine whether they showed deficits in performance comparable to those of unilaterally brain-damaged individuals. Previous research had shown that these tasks reflect cerebral organization of verbal and nonverbal functions in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. The rationale was based on evidence for an organic etiology, and more specifically, a left-lateralized dysfunction in schizophrenia. Lateralized visual and auditory tests were given to process and reactive schizophrenics and non-psychotic psychiatric control subjects without prior history of organic dysfunction. Twenty right-handed subjects comprised each group. The tasks included unilateral and bilateral tachistoscopic word recognition, tachistoscopic pattern recognition, dichotic digit recall and dichotic melody recognition. It was predicted that control subjects and reactive schizophrenics would obtain higher right side-of-input scores on the verbal tasks, and higher scores on the left on the nonverbal tasks. Process schizophrenics were expected to show deficits in overall performance and in left hemisphere functioning. Data analysis revealed no significant differences in level of performance among the three groups, and did not support the prediction of a left hemisphere dysfunction in process schizophrenics. However, post-hoc tests, involving the classification of subjects into normal and abnormal lateralization categories, indicated that reactive schizophrenics as a group showed unusual cerebral organization. While process and control subjects demonstrated the normal division of verbal and nonverbal functions into separate hemispheres on the visual tasks, reactive subjects tended to handle both types of material better with the same hemisphere. A tentative model of schizophrenia was proposed. It suggested that future research be directed toward identification of differences in cerebral organization which might explain differences in premorbid history, prognosis and severity of the disorder among schizophrenic subgroups. 1977 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1566463048510994 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1566463048510994 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Psychology
spellingShingle	Psychology Gill, Kathleen M. A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
author	Gill, Kathleen M.
author_facet	Gill, Kathleen M.
author_sort	Gill, Kathleen M.
title	A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
title_short	A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
title_full	A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
title_fullStr	A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
title_full_unstemmed	A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function
title_sort	comparison of process and reactive schizophrenics on behavioral tests of lateralized brain function
publisher	Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	1977
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1566463048510994
work_keys_str_mv	AT gillkathleenm acomparisonofprocessandreactiveschizophrenicsonbehavioraltestsoflateralizedbrainfunction AT gillkathleenm comparisonofprocessandreactiveschizophrenicsonbehavioraltestsoflateralizedbrainfunction
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A Comparison of Process and Reactive Schizophrenics on Behavioral Tests of Lateralized Brain Function

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