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Biomedical subjects

S M Fishkin

Publications and source records attributed to S M Fishkin.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Resting cardiovascular activity and antisocial behavior in Essential and Reactive alcoholic men.

This study showed that 10 men identified as Essential alcoholics had significantly lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures and significantly higher scores on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior than 11 Reactive alcoholics. For all alcoholics the antisocial measure was positively correlated with the total score on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire. Also, the antisocial measure was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. If lower resting cardiovascular activity were a psychophysiological indicator of more antisocial behavior, change on both variables could be associated with initiation and maintenance of alcoholic drinking by Essential alcoholic men.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Factor analysis of the Rudie-McGaughran Essential-Reactive questionnaire for VA alcoholic men.

In this study factor analysis was used to estimate the validity of the Rudie-McGaughran Essential-Reactive questionnaire. Answers of VA alcoholic men were tape-recorded and scored using the Rudie and McGaughran criteria. Only 2 factors, economic dependence and gastrointestinal symptoms, were validated using factor analysis. Five of the remaining six factors evaluated dimensions of dependence unique to the Essential alcoholic men.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Differences between essential and reactive alcoholics on tests of neuropsychological functioning and affect.

This study tested the hypothesis that Essential Alcoholics (n = 15) develop a more severe form of alcoholism than Reactive Alcoholics (n = 12). VA alcoholic patients were classified as Essential or Reactive Alcoholics, using the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire, and tested on four neuropsychological tests, the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, Tarter's Hyperactivity/Minimal Brain Dysfunction questionnaire, and Latcham's Measure of Antisocial Behavior. While the two groups did not differ in age, education, or Family History of alcoholism. Essential Alcoholics had an earlier age of onset and a longer chronicity of alcoholism. After analysis of covariance was used to control for group differences in age of onset and chronicity, Essential Alcoholics were still significantly higher on depression and significantly more impaired on five subtests of the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale: global measure, total items, general, learning-verbal, and frustration. Nonsignificant group differences, in the expected direction, were found for the Shipley Mental Age and Tarter's questionnaire. These results suggest that Essential Alcoholics have higher depression scores and greater impairments in neuropsychological functioning than Reactive Alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Psychological absorption. Affect investment in marijuana intoxication.

Absorption (a trait capacity for total attentional involvement) was reported to increase during episodes of marijuana intoxication. Several subsets of the absorption scale items specifically characterized marijuana intoxication, and groups of users and nonusers showed differential affective involvement with these experiences. Additionally, within the drug-using group, a positive correlation between frequency of marijuana use and affective ratings of these experiences was found. The findings support the hypothesis that a specific type of alteration in consciousness that enhances capacity for total attentional involvement (absorption) characterizes marijuana intoxication, and that this enhancement may act as a reinforcer, possibly influencing future use.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Residual effects of temazepam and other hypnotic compounds on cognitive function.

The morning after effects of taking single doses of three hypnotic compounds were compared in a five-group design, including the three drug conditions (temazepam, flurazepam, barbiturate), placebo, and no capsule controls. Results showed a slight superiority for temazepam over barbiturate on visual-motor and reaction time tasks. On one phase of a cognitive task, the barbiturate and flurazepam groups made more errors than the control groups. Overall, the results indicate an impairment in performance for the group taking barbiturate and a smaller impairment for the flurazepam group. No detectable impairment occurred for subjects taking temazepam.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Randomness and the "streaking" phenomenon: attentional anomalies in performance on the Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST).

Examined in detail the performance of 36 hospitalized male schizophrenics on the Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST). Results indicated two interesting phenomena. First, the performance of patients with the highest level of cognitive deficit approached a random level of responding with respect to both the type of error made and the propensity to improve after an error. Second, a subgroup of these highly impaired Ss, identified as "streakers," displayed periods of virtually error-free responding, interspersed with periods of extremely impaired performance. The streaking phenomenon, as well as the tendency toward randomness, was discussed in terms of attentional anomalies.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Relationship between schizophrenic thinking and MMPI for process and reactive patients.

This study examined the relationship between Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST) and MMPI performance in 25 male Process and Reactive schizophrenic inpatients. The results demonstrated a correlation between the WIST index and the Sc scale of the MMPI (r = .54, p less than .05) for Process patients only. Other MMPI scales highly correlated with each other also correlated with WIST index for the Process group. The lack of association between WIST and MMPI scales for Reactive patients was interpreted as suggesting a high degree of behavioral disorganization in these patients. Other results, i.e., lack of correlation between time and error scores on the WIST and high variability of time scores on the WIST, suggest that part of this disorganization for the Reactive patients may be understood in terms of disrupted pacing of behavior with respect to time, a process that may be related to the intrusion of irrelevant event processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Factors involved in visual capture.

Visual capture was explored using three types of vision-"touch" conflicts. The results indicated that the amount of visual capture differed for the three tasks. In one task (slant judgments) strong, but incomplete, visual capture occurred, in another (a length judgment task) an approximate compromise between the two modalities was found, and in the third task (texture judgments) a trend toward touch capture occurred. In two additional experiments using the slant task, the effects of brief training with one of the competing modalities and the effects of manipulating certain aspects of the stimulus display were explored. The bried training did not alter the resolution of the conflict but varying visual clarity and felt texture of the rod whose slant was being judged did affect visual capture.

Adult↗