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A methodological frame for neurosciences
67 PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ICS T. Radil Institute of Physiology. Prague, Czechoslovakia
BASES OF PSYCHOSOMAT-
Czechoslovak
Academy
of Sciences,
Just verbal use of the slogan ‘psychophysiological’ is gnoseologically meaningless. We do not increase our knowledge at all when renaming Psychosomatics for ‘Psychophysiology’ or some of its branches, for instance ‘Clinical Psychophysiology’ (and that sometimes happens due to the respectful contributions gained by means of psychophysiological experimentation). That does not mean naturally that Psychophysiology is unrelated to Psychosomatics. Psychophysiology provides on the contrary powerful experimental, i.e., objective means (as demonstrated in the present review by various examples) for analyzing the pathogenetic mechanisms of psychosomatic diseases, for improving their diagnosis and in some cases even for curing them. Nevertheless, Psychophysiology and Psychosomatics are two different, although closely related, fields of Neuroscience+.
ing the emotional impact of the stimuli. Reversal rate (R.R.) was different for each subject and it was dependent on the meaning of the word. Less familiar words appeared to result in a slowing down of reversal. For some subjects a very regular R.R. was registered. The average time for certain interpretation of any of the six percepts for all subjects was 3.1 s, which supports the hypothesis on a ‘3-s’ segmentation of mental processing. The differences in R.R. of positive (black lines on white background), and negative (vice-versa) presentation of an adaptation of Schroder staircase reversible figure were evaluated in IO healthy subjects. Comparison across subjects showed that the R.R. was faster, i.e., the inter-reversal intervals were shorter during negative form presentation. The intervals of seeing the staircase as ‘leading up’ were longer than those of seeing it as ‘hanging down’ in both experiments.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY STUDY Adrian Raine University of Southern
A METHODOLOGICAL SCIENCES T. Radil Institute of Physiology, Prague. Czechoslovakia
FRAME
Czechoslovak
FOR
Academy
NEURO-
of Sciences,
The most important methodological question in neurosciences deals with the dialectics of levels (LJ in the organization (0) of brain as a complex hierarchical system. Basic and specific neural processes (PI do exist for any OL in the structure 6) of brain. Two types of ontological errors (El could be delineated. The first type concerns relationships (R) between the L of P and the L of S, the most usual E-s being: Reductionist (P typical for higher L ascribed to lower L of SJ, Transductionist (vice versa), Integrative (virtual common P ascribed to two or more L-s). Dissociative (suggesting separation of P from S). The second type concerns R-s among different L-s, the most common E being: Isolationist (denying R-s between L-s). Relational (replacing R-s by pseudo L-s) and Compressional (fusing different levels into one). E-s are relevant gnoseologitally.
TIMING
OF AUDITORY
AND VISUAL
REVERSALS
J. RadiIova, E. Piippel ’ and J. Ilmberger ’ Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovakia and ’ Institute of Medical Psychology, LMU, Munchen, F.R.G. Illusory auditory healthy subjects.
reversals of three words were studied with 10 Artificial computer voice was used for limit-
AND CRIME:
California,
A PROSPECTIVE
Los Angeles,
CA. U.S.A.
This study assesses, whether psychophysiological variables are of relevance to the development of criminal behavior in the context of a prospective longitudinal study. Psychophysiological measures of arousal, orienting and attention were measured in 101 normal 15-year-old males and related to criminality status assessed 9 years later. Criminals-to-be (n = 17) were characterized by: (a) significantly reduced electrodermal, cardiovascular and cortical arousal during a resting condition (fewer non-specific skin conductance (SC) responses, lower heart rate levels, more EEG theta activity); (b) reduced electrodermal and cardiovascular responses to orienting stimuli; and (c) larger Nl amplitudes and faster P300 latencies to the warning stimulus in a classical CNV paradigm. Arousal variables alone correctly classified 74.7% of all subjects into criminals/non-criminals. It is concluded that arousal, orienting and attention play an important role in the development of criminal behavior.
DURATION DISCRIMINATION OF AUDITORY AGE
AND
THE
CONCEPT
Thomas Rammsayer and Harald Lachnit University of Giessen, West Germany According to the auditory age hypothesis temporal resolution seems to improve from 3 years of age to Y years of age. Around 10 years of age timing functions begin to plateau and remain stable until the beginning of the sixth decade of life. At this time a progressive diminution of temporal resolution occurs. These results are based on auditory fusion of I7-ms tone bursts. A study was designed to answer the question
BASES OF PSYCHOSOMAT-
Czechoslovak
Academy
of Sciences,
Just verbal use of the slogan ‘psychophysiological’ is gnoseologically meaningless. We do not increase our knowledge at all when renaming Psychosomatics for ‘Psychophysiology’ or some of its branches, for instance ‘Clinical Psychophysiology’ (and that sometimes happens due to the respectful contributions gained by means of psychophysiological experimentation). That does not mean naturally that Psychophysiology is unrelated to Psychosomatics. Psychophysiology provides on the contrary powerful experimental, i.e., objective means (as demonstrated in the present review by various examples) for analyzing the pathogenetic mechanisms of psychosomatic diseases, for improving their diagnosis and in some cases even for curing them. Nevertheless, Psychophysiology and Psychosomatics are two different, although closely related, fields of Neuroscience+.
ing the emotional impact of the stimuli. Reversal rate (R.R.) was different for each subject and it was dependent on the meaning of the word. Less familiar words appeared to result in a slowing down of reversal. For some subjects a very regular R.R. was registered. The average time for certain interpretation of any of the six percepts for all subjects was 3.1 s, which supports the hypothesis on a ‘3-s’ segmentation of mental processing. The differences in R.R. of positive (black lines on white background), and negative (vice-versa) presentation of an adaptation of Schroder staircase reversible figure were evaluated in IO healthy subjects. Comparison across subjects showed that the R.R. was faster, i.e., the inter-reversal intervals were shorter during negative form presentation. The intervals of seeing the staircase as ‘leading up’ were longer than those of seeing it as ‘hanging down’ in both experiments.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY STUDY Adrian Raine University of Southern
A METHODOLOGICAL SCIENCES T. Radil Institute of Physiology, Prague. Czechoslovakia
FRAME
Czechoslovak
FOR
Academy
NEURO-
of Sciences,
The most important methodological question in neurosciences deals with the dialectics of levels (LJ in the organization (0) of brain as a complex hierarchical system. Basic and specific neural processes (PI do exist for any OL in the structure 6) of brain. Two types of ontological errors (El could be delineated. The first type concerns relationships (R) between the L of P and the L of S, the most usual E-s being: Reductionist (P typical for higher L ascribed to lower L of SJ, Transductionist (vice versa), Integrative (virtual common P ascribed to two or more L-s). Dissociative (suggesting separation of P from S). The second type concerns R-s among different L-s, the most common E being: Isolationist (denying R-s between L-s). Relational (replacing R-s by pseudo L-s) and Compressional (fusing different levels into one). E-s are relevant gnoseologitally.
TIMING
OF AUDITORY
AND VISUAL
REVERSALS
J. RadiIova, E. Piippel ’ and J. Ilmberger ’ Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovakia and ’ Institute of Medical Psychology, LMU, Munchen, F.R.G. Illusory auditory healthy subjects.
reversals of three words were studied with 10 Artificial computer voice was used for limit-
AND CRIME:
California,
A PROSPECTIVE
Los Angeles,
CA. U.S.A.
This study assesses, whether psychophysiological variables are of relevance to the development of criminal behavior in the context of a prospective longitudinal study. Psychophysiological measures of arousal, orienting and attention were measured in 101 normal 15-year-old males and related to criminality status assessed 9 years later. Criminals-to-be (n = 17) were characterized by: (a) significantly reduced electrodermal, cardiovascular and cortical arousal during a resting condition (fewer non-specific skin conductance (SC) responses, lower heart rate levels, more EEG theta activity); (b) reduced electrodermal and cardiovascular responses to orienting stimuli; and (c) larger Nl amplitudes and faster P300 latencies to the warning stimulus in a classical CNV paradigm. Arousal variables alone correctly classified 74.7% of all subjects into criminals/non-criminals. It is concluded that arousal, orienting and attention play an important role in the development of criminal behavior.
DURATION DISCRIMINATION OF AUDITORY AGE
AND
THE
CONCEPT
Thomas Rammsayer and Harald Lachnit University of Giessen, West Germany According to the auditory age hypothesis temporal resolution seems to improve from 3 years of age to Y years of age. Around 10 years of age timing functions begin to plateau and remain stable until the beginning of the sixth decade of life. At this time a progressive diminution of temporal resolution occurs. These results are based on auditory fusion of I7-ms tone bursts. A study was designed to answer the question