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218 The psychophysiology of repetitive self-mutilation
86
Abstracts
/International
Journal
Integrating auditory and visual information facilitates the detection of weak stimuli. In speech perception, visual information of the talker’s articulation improves understanding of the message, especially under noisy conditions. We have recently demonstrated that different cortical areas are involved in integrating speech and nonspeech stimuli. Visual information can change auditory speech perception. When auditory /apa/ is dubbed to the videotaped face articulating /aka/, the subjects typically hear the syllable /ata/. This change in perception occurs even when the subject is informed of the discrepancy or tries to pay attention separately to the visual or auditory component of the stimulus. These and other tindings suggest that the integration is rather automatic. We recently studied the influence of lexical representations and sentence context on the McGurk effect. The audiovisual tokens consisted of solitary meaningful words and nonwords starting with /pa-/ and /ka-/ syllables. Audiovisual combinations expected to be perceived either as meaningful words or nonwords were used. Similar words were also presented in various positions of three-word sentences in which the expected word could match or mismatch with the sentetie context. The perception of the tokens did not appear to be influenced by the word meaning or sentence context. These findings suggest that audiovisual speech integration occurs at phonetical perceptual level before the word meaning is extracted. On the other hand, our experiments also suggest that the representation of audiovisual speech is influenced by P processing of facial stimuli.
SYMPOSIUM 38: Personalised Guided Imagery and Psychophysiology
217 THE USE OF PERSONALISED GUIDED IMAGERY IN ACCESSING PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL STATES Dr Janet Haines, Dr Christopher L. Williams School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia A coverage will be provided of the need for an alternative means of accessing psychophysiological states when direct access is impossible for practical or ethical reasons. The use of guided imagery will be proposed to overcome these problems with an explanation being given of the advantages of using such a methodology. A particular four stage, ‘personalised guided imagery methodology will be described and the procedure for using this methodology will be provided. The origins of this methodology in relation to its development will be given. A description will be given of the case that demanded that psychophysiological states associated with a particular behaviour be determined. The application of the methodology to the investigation of a range of clinical problems will be provided including its use in the examination of the bingepurge cycle, self-poisoning, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol relapse and nail biting. Finally, an introduction will be
of Psychophysiology
30 (1998)
7-94
made to the four following presentations in terms of the specific uses of the methodology in relation to infrequent or unpredictable events, single case studies, unique events, and situations associated with avoidance behaviour.
218 THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY SELF-MUTILATION
OF
REPETITIVE
Miss Kerryn L. Brain, Dr Janet Haines, Dr Christopher L. Williams School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia Previous research utilising a four stage guided imagery methodology has indicated that self-mutilation is reinforced by the relief from heightened psychophysiological arousal and psychological tension that the act itself provides (Brain et al., 1997; Haines et al., 1995). The aim of the present investigation was to determine whether the strength of this reinforcement pattern contributes significantly to the development of a repetitive pattern of self-mutilation. Participants’ psychophysiological and psychological responses were measured during personalised guided imagery scripts depicting an actual episode of self-mutilation. Scripts were presented in four stages: scene setting, approach, incident, and consequence. It was hypothesised that frequent self-mutilation participants (more than 5 life-time events) (n = 29) would evidence a stronger pattern of psychophysiological arousal reduction and report feeling significantly less distressed at the incident stage than an infrequent- self-mutilation group (n = 14). Results were unexpected. No significant differences between frequent and infrequent self-mutilation participants were evident for any of the four psychophysiologic measures. In addition, negligible differences in psychological response to self-mutilation imagery were noted. Results have demonstrated that the psychophysiological and psychological tension reducing qualities of self-mutilation behaviour alone do not account for the development of a repetitive pattern of self-mutilative behaviour. Other factors must be considered if treatment is to be targeted effectively.
219 THE IDENTITY
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY DISORDER
OF DISSOCIATIVE
Dr Christopher L. Williams, Dr Janet Haines, Maureen R. Doherty School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia This study was conducted to test the view that an alternate personality state in dissociative identity disorder (DID) serves as a coping mechanism to alleviate stress and distress. A single case study approach was adopted. Personalised guided imagery scripts were developed on the basis of interview material about similar events that had occurred in both the predominant and the alternate personality states. A personalised neu-
Abstracts
/International
Journal
Integrating auditory and visual information facilitates the detection of weak stimuli. In speech perception, visual information of the talker’s articulation improves understanding of the message, especially under noisy conditions. We have recently demonstrated that different cortical areas are involved in integrating speech and nonspeech stimuli. Visual information can change auditory speech perception. When auditory /apa/ is dubbed to the videotaped face articulating /aka/, the subjects typically hear the syllable /ata/. This change in perception occurs even when the subject is informed of the discrepancy or tries to pay attention separately to the visual or auditory component of the stimulus. These and other tindings suggest that the integration is rather automatic. We recently studied the influence of lexical representations and sentence context on the McGurk effect. The audiovisual tokens consisted of solitary meaningful words and nonwords starting with /pa-/ and /ka-/ syllables. Audiovisual combinations expected to be perceived either as meaningful words or nonwords were used. Similar words were also presented in various positions of three-word sentences in which the expected word could match or mismatch with the sentetie context. The perception of the tokens did not appear to be influenced by the word meaning or sentence context. These findings suggest that audiovisual speech integration occurs at phonetical perceptual level before the word meaning is extracted. On the other hand, our experiments also suggest that the representation of audiovisual speech is influenced by P processing of facial stimuli.
SYMPOSIUM 38: Personalised Guided Imagery and Psychophysiology
217 THE USE OF PERSONALISED GUIDED IMAGERY IN ACCESSING PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL STATES Dr Janet Haines, Dr Christopher L. Williams School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia A coverage will be provided of the need for an alternative means of accessing psychophysiological states when direct access is impossible for practical or ethical reasons. The use of guided imagery will be proposed to overcome these problems with an explanation being given of the advantages of using such a methodology. A particular four stage, ‘personalised guided imagery methodology will be described and the procedure for using this methodology will be provided. The origins of this methodology in relation to its development will be given. A description will be given of the case that demanded that psychophysiological states associated with a particular behaviour be determined. The application of the methodology to the investigation of a range of clinical problems will be provided including its use in the examination of the bingepurge cycle, self-poisoning, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol relapse and nail biting. Finally, an introduction will be
of Psychophysiology
30 (1998)
7-94
made to the four following presentations in terms of the specific uses of the methodology in relation to infrequent or unpredictable events, single case studies, unique events, and situations associated with avoidance behaviour.
218 THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY SELF-MUTILATION
OF
REPETITIVE
Miss Kerryn L. Brain, Dr Janet Haines, Dr Christopher L. Williams School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia Previous research utilising a four stage guided imagery methodology has indicated that self-mutilation is reinforced by the relief from heightened psychophysiological arousal and psychological tension that the act itself provides (Brain et al., 1997; Haines et al., 1995). The aim of the present investigation was to determine whether the strength of this reinforcement pattern contributes significantly to the development of a repetitive pattern of self-mutilation. Participants’ psychophysiological and psychological responses were measured during personalised guided imagery scripts depicting an actual episode of self-mutilation. Scripts were presented in four stages: scene setting, approach, incident, and consequence. It was hypothesised that frequent self-mutilation participants (more than 5 life-time events) (n = 29) would evidence a stronger pattern of psychophysiological arousal reduction and report feeling significantly less distressed at the incident stage than an infrequent- self-mutilation group (n = 14). Results were unexpected. No significant differences between frequent and infrequent self-mutilation participants were evident for any of the four psychophysiologic measures. In addition, negligible differences in psychological response to self-mutilation imagery were noted. Results have demonstrated that the psychophysiological and psychological tension reducing qualities of self-mutilation behaviour alone do not account for the development of a repetitive pattern of self-mutilative behaviour. Other factors must be considered if treatment is to be targeted effectively.
219 THE IDENTITY
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY DISORDER
OF DISSOCIATIVE
Dr Christopher L. Williams, Dr Janet Haines, Maureen R. Doherty School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Australia This study was conducted to test the view that an alternate personality state in dissociative identity disorder (DID) serves as a coping mechanism to alleviate stress and distress. A single case study approach was adopted. Personalised guided imagery scripts were developed on the basis of interview material about similar events that had occurred in both the predominant and the alternate personality states. A personalised neu-