Psychophysiology and Experimental Psychopathology [antikvár]

PrefaceThis volume is the result of a conference held in March of 1987 (a year after SamuelSutton's death) at the New York Academy of Sciences, which was organized tohonor Sam's contributions to psychophysiology and psychopathology. Most of usremember Sam for his discovery of the P300 component of the event-related brainpotential (ERP), but are less familiar with the extent to which he contributed toand influenced the field of experimental psychopathology. The speakers at theconference, a majority of whom had worked with Sam in one capacity or another,were chosen to illustrate the breadth of Sam's influence in basic behavioral andpsychophysiological research, as well as experimental psychopathology. As canbe seen in the Table of Contents, the wide range of topics nicely define Sam'seclectic approach.The impetus for Sam's original use of the ERP was to aid in understandingwhat went on in the schizophrenic's brain that led to an increase in reaction timewhen stimuli (lights and tones) were shifted from one sensory modality to theother. This method of integrating behavioral and psychophysiological techniquesin the study of psychopathology has become a standard approach in the field. Thisis documented not only in the paper by Cohen and Rist, who measured ERPs ofschizophrenic patients during the modality shift paradigm, but also in the paperby Ford and colleagues, who review the status of P3 research in schizophrenia,and in that by Bruder dealing with P3 in affective and anxiety disorders. Inthe studies exemplified by this methodology, ERPs and behavioral measures areobtained while psychiatric patients are actively engaged in different cognitivetasks. An alternative approach is illustrated in the paper by John and Prichep, inwhich ERPs are recorded under passive, "no task" conditions.Sam's enthusiasm for psychophysiological recording was not limited to theERP, but also extended to pupillary motility. The integration of these central andautonomic measures and its application to psychopathology is detailed in the paperby Steinhauer and Hakerem. One of the early contributors to Sam's work withP300, Tueting, along with her colleagues, considers the use of a psychopharmaco-logic approach as a means for understanding the contributions of both biologicaland cognitive mechanisms to the ERP.Following the discovery of P300, Sam and his colleagues proceeded to performa number of studies aimed at better understanding the psychological variables thatmodulate P300. The findings of these early studies remain today as a firm foundationfor the psychological basis of the P300 component. As the paper by Ritter andRuchkin makes quite clear, these early studies also led to the discovery of severaladditional ERP components that are affected by cognitive variables. The discoveryof P300 was followed, some years later, by studies applying this technique notonly to psychopathology but also to fields such as cognitive development andaging, as described in the paper by Friedman. One of Sam's earlier collaboratorsin the area of auditory psychophysics, Babkoff, and his colleagues present theresults of studies of sleep deprivation on cognitive function.Some of the early interest in the possible use of cognitive measures as markersof vulnerability to schizophrenia grew out of Zubin and Sutton's work on reactiontime in schizophrenia. Subsequently, researchers have used a variety of behavioralmeasures as potential markers, as elegantly described in the paper by Spring. Oneof the pioneers in the psychophysiological study of psychopathology, Venables,also did one of the early investigations using a putative psychophysiologicalmarker. He here reviews a variety of evidence supporting the hypothesis of hippo-