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PubMed1990

Alcohol, subliminal stimulation, and disinhibitory processes.

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that an unconscious conflict between a wish to attain symbiotic oneness with another person on the one hand and personal independence on the other, should be weakened by alcohol if the main effect of intoxication is to reduce the strength of psychological inhibitions. In turn, a reduction in such conflicts should improve motor performance. Data indicated no such effects, and it was concluded that the disinhibition hypothesis as an explanation of alcohol-related behavior was not supported.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Analysis of the influence of amygdalar stimulation on conditioned and unconditioned alimentary reflexes].

The paper summarizes the results of studying the effects of subliminal stimulation of the basolateral part of the amygdala nuclei complex on alimentary secretory conditioned and unconditioned reflexes (11 dogs, 150 tests of low-frequency and 95 tests of high-frequency stimulation). It has been found that stimulation of the basolateral amygdala taking part in the inhibitory system of alimentary behaviour control may exert not only inhibitory but also activating influences on the alimentary secretory reaction. The inhibitory effects are, however, much stronger than the activating ones, particularly with low-frequency stimulation. Subliminal stimulation of the basolateral amygdala affects dissimilarly inborn alimentary reactions and conditioned, acquired reactions. Conditioned secretory reactions in most cases (up to 80% of the tests) are inhibited, while unconditioned ones, are activated. It is suggested that the amygdala plays a different role in these two types of reactions.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1979

The fear of object loss, responsiveness to subliminal stimuli, and schizophrenic psychopathology.

Thirty schizophrenic patients were seen individually for three sessions in a balanced design. In each session, following subliminal stimulation with a neutral stimulus, a baseline assessment of pathology was made. Then, in different sessions, in counterbalanced order, each patient received one of three experimental (or "critical") stimuli: a) a neutral control stimulus; b) a message--CANNIBAL EATS PERSON--intended to activate aggressive ideation; c) a message--I AM LOSING MOMMY--intended to activate fantasies of object loss. Each of these conditions was followed by an initial and later assessment of pathology, and finally by a measure of the patients' sense of differentiation from a mothering figure. In the final session other measures were also obtained, including each patient's conscious association to the critical stimuli when presented supraliminally. The major results were: a) as in previous experiments, the subliminal aggressive message intensified pathology and aggressive ideation--especially for relatively undifferentiated and relatively nondefended patients; b) subliminal stimulation of fantasies of object loss also increased pathology--especially for nondefended patients--and also increased the patients' sense of merging with the mothering object; c) the patients' response to subliminal stimuli--including presumably neutral ones--was a function of the conscious meaning(s) of such stimuli. It was concluded that: a) the threat of object loss (real or fantasied) may be one of the motivations supporting the development of pathology in schizophrenics; b) the activation of fantasies of aggressive destruction can exacerbate schizophrenic pathology--perhaps by activating fantasies of object loss; c) future research with subliminal stimulation should consider carefully the differential responsiveness of subjects to the content of particular messages.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Further data on the effects of subliminal symbiotic stimulation on schizophrenics.

This investigation further examined the effects of activating unconscious symbiotic fantasies in schizophrenics. One hundred twenty-eight hospitalized schizophrenic men who qualified as "relatively differentiated" on the Adjective Rating Scale were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group was assessed for pathological thinking, pathological nonverbal behavior, and self-esteem before and after the subliminal exposure of an experimental and control stimulus. The control stimulus for all groups was the message PEOPLE ARE WALKING and the experimental stimuli were the messages MOMMY AND I ARE ONE, MOMMY IS ALWAYS WITH ME, MOMMY FEEDS ME WELL, and I CANNOT HURT MOMMY (one for each group). One half of each group was subliminally exposed to verbal messages only and one half to verbal messages accompanied by congruent pictures. The first stimulus (MOMMY AND I ARE ONE) was intended to activate unconscious symbiotic fantasies that in a number of prior studies reduced pathology in groups of relatively differentiated schizophrenics. The other stimuli were intended to activate reassuring unconscious fantasies about "mommy" that were not specifically symbiosis-related. Only the MOMMY AND I ARE ONE stimulus led to more adaptive behavior and did so on all three dependent variables. This supported the supposition, also borne out in two other studies, that it is specifically symbiosis-related gratifications that are ameliorative for schizophrenics. The above results were considerably stronger for the subgroup that was exposed to a picture accompanying the MOMMY AND I ARE ONE message. This was viewed as probably the result of the pictorial representation serving as a concretization of the more abstract verbal message and as such being more relevant to the relatively primitive mode of thinking in schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Effect of caffeine and phenamin on caudate inhibition of aggressive reactions in cats].

In chronic experiments conducted on cats it was shown that caffeine (10--30 mg/kg) failed to change agressive reactions developing in stimulation of the meso- or diencephalic structures. Phenamine (1--3 mg/kg) facilitated the appearance of emotional manifestations and lowered the threshold of the agressive response. Subliminal stimulation of the caudate nucleus in control experiments caused motor tranquilization and depressed the agressive behaviour to a lesser degree when practised against the background of the caffeine action. At the same time, phenamine abolished the influence not only of the threshold, but also of the subliminal stimulation of the caudate nucleus on the spontaneous motor activity and the rage behaviour.

Aggression↗
PubMed1989

Psychophysiological responses to subliminal auditory suggestions for activation.

The aim of this study was to characterize further the experimental procedure proposed by Borgeat and Goulet in 1983. Subliminal activation auditory suggestions were expected to increase heart rate and skin conductance in presence of a stressing task. 20 subjects were alternately exposed to activating or neutral (random numbers) 25-dB suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise. Analyses of variance and covariance indicated an effect of the activating suggestions on heart rate but not on skin conductance. Partly confirming previous results, the data support the reliability of heart rate and the importance of a stressing factor to reveal the effects of preconscious or subliminal stimulations.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Effects of subliminal and supraliminal stress on symptoms of anxiety.

Two experiments were carried out with volunteer subjects to test whether the subliminal viewing of emotive material induced anxiety and its associated bodily symptoms. In one experiment 24 subjects looked at anxiety-inducing words presented singly through a tachistoscope under supraliminal or subliminal conditions, and in the other study 50 subjects looked at a neutral and an emotive movie film under similar conditions. Subliminality was insured in the first experiment by reducing the duration of exposure and in the second by reducing the level of illumination. The results showed that ratings of anxiety were significantly increased under subliminal emotive conditions, and reduced following subliminal neutral exposure. Correlations between psychic and somatic symptoms of anxiety were significantly higher under supraliminal conditions compared with subliminal ones. The possible role of subliminal stimulation in investigating the psychic and somatic components of anxiety is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Effect of subliminal stimuli on consumer behavior: negative evidence.

The study corrected methodological weaknesses found in previous experiments designed to test the contentions of motivational research theorists that subliminal stimulation can affect buying behavior. The words "Hershey's Chocolate" were presented to a group of 18 experimental Ss below a forced-choice detection threshold. The 19 control Ss had a blank slide superimposed over the same background media. In a highly controlled buying situation neither experimental nor control Ss purchased Hershey's products, but on comparable chocolate products, the experimental Ss bought 5 and the control Ss, 3. A second study tested 15 experimental and 12 control Ss with the stimulus presented just below a recognition threshold. No experimental Ss bought Hershey's; two control Ss did. No support was found for the claims of motivational research theorists.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1978

Stress effects on affiliation preferences among subjects possessing the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern.

An experiment tested the hypothesis that when subjects who display the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern are placed under stress, they prefer to wait for the stressful event with others, but desire to work under stress alone. One half of 25 Type A and 25 Type B (non-coronary-prone) subjects were told that they would receive painful electric shock while working on a mental task, while the other one half were told that they would receive subliminal stimulation. Both groups were then given the choice of waiting for the event with others or alone and the choice of working on the task alone, in the company of others, or in a leader-directed group. The results showed that Type As relative to Type Bs tended to wait in the company of others regardless of threat level, but displayed a marked preference to work alone under high threat. This decision to work alone was not influenced by waiting preference. Subsequent correlational studies showed that coronary patients (n = 40) reported a greater preference for working alone when under pressure than matched controls (n = 40), as did Type A college students (77% vs. 14% for Type Bs) when asked their preference within the context of the structured interview that is used to assess the Type A pattern. The significance of the findings for increasing the understanding of affiliative preferences and coronary-prone behavior are discussed.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1975

A clinical application of subliminal psychodynamic activation. On the stimulation of symbiotic fantasies as an adjunct in the treatment of hospitalized schizophrenics.

This study attempted to utilize the subliminal psychodynamic activation method as an aid in the treatment of hospitalized schizophrenics. More specifically, we inbestigated whether the subliminal activation of a fantasy of symbiotic gratification would produce an increment in the degree of improvement that schizophrenics manifested as a result of hospitalization. Forty male patients were seen individually for three weekly sessions over a 6-week period for a fantasy expression task carried out by a psychology graduate student. Both at the beginning and at the end of each session and whenever during the session anxiety was in evidence, the patient was exposed to subliminal stimulation. The patients were divided into two groups equated for intelligence, pathology level, and other pertinent variables. For one group, the tachistoscopically presented stimulus consisted of MOMMY AND I ARE ONE, a verbal message which, in several prior studies, produced a significant reduction in ego impairment within a laboratory session. The other group served as a control, and their stimulus was PEOPLE ARE WALKING. The subjects in each group were subdivided in order to investigate the effects of two other interventions in addition to the subliminal symbiotic stimulation. One of these was aggressive expression consisting of an attempt to elicit specifically aggressive fantasies in the fantasy expression task. The other was self-focuing, designed to strengthen self-boundaries. All patients were blindly assessed for seven measures of ego impairment before and after the intervention period and for the number of rehospitalizations over a 9-month follow-up period. Of the three types of interventions impairment measures. For on of the variables, the symbiotic group showed significantly more improvement than the control group, while for two others the results approached significance. In addition, on an overall measure of ego impairment, there was significantly mor improvement for the symbiotic group than for the control patients.

Aggression↗