Perceptual organization in schizophrenia: utilization of the Gestalt principles.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated perceptual organization in schizophrenia to determine whether patients with schizophrenia used the Gestalt principles. In the visual embedded figures task (Experiment 1), the authors examined the principles of proximity and collinearity, whereas in the similarity task (Experiment 2), the authors examined similarity. Forty-three people participated in the study: patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (14) or with bipolar disorder (15), and "normal" participants (14). All 3 groups of participants showed performance superiority in the condition that was facilitated by the use of the Gestalt principles in both tasks. This study supports the hypothesis that visual perceptual organization, in terms of utilizing the Gestalt principles, is relatively intact in people with schizophrenia.

[1]  S. Silverstein,et al.  Stimulus configuration and context effects in perceptual organization in schizophrenia. , 1996, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[2]  I. Rock,et al.  Perception without attention: Results of a new method , 1992, Cognitive Psychology.

[3]  H. Ghim,et al.  Evidence for perceptual organization in infants: Perception of subjective contours by young infants , 1990 .

[4]  M. Drake.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. rev.) , 1988 .

[5]  D. C. Howell.  Statistical Methods for Psychology , 1987 .

[6]  M. Haith,et al.  Infant visual response to gestalt geometric forms , 1984 .

[7]  D. Leventhal,et al.  Perceptual grouping in schizophrenia: replication of Place and Gilmore. , 1984, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[8]  D. Marr.  Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information , 1983 .

[9]  B. Julesz.  Textons, the elements of texture perception, and their interactions , 1981, Nature.

[10]  E. Hearst.  The First Century of Experimental Psychology , 1980 .

[11]  E. J. Place,et al.  Perceptual organization in schizophrenia. , 1980, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[12]  A. Treisman,et al.  A feature-integration theory of attention , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[13]  D. Leventhal,et al.  A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS AND MODIFICATION OF A PREATTENTIVE, PERCEPTUAL DYSFUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA , 1978, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[14]  G. Bower,et al.  Structural units and the redintegrative power of picture fragments. , 1976, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[15]  F. Attneave,et al.  What Variables Produce Similarity Grouping , 1970 .

[16]  A. Dewolfe.  Self-reports and case histories of schizophrenic patients: reliability and validity of Phillips scale ratings. , 1968, Journal of clinical psychology.

[17]  H. Barry,et al.  RELATIONSHIP OF MARITAL STATUS TO INCIDENCE AND PROGNOSIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA. , 1963, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[18]  A. Mcghie,et al.  Disorders of attention and perception in early schizophrenia. , 1961, The British journal of medical psychology.

[19]  L. Phillips.  CASE HISTORY DATA AND PROGNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA , 1953, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[20]  O. Reiser,et al.  Principles Of Gestalt Psychology , 1936 .

[21]  R. Parasuraman.  The attentive brain , 1998 .

[22]  L. J. Chapman,et al.  Progress in experimental personality & psychopathology research , 1992 .

[23]  John Colombo,et al.  individual Differences in infancy : Reliability, Stability, and Prediction , 1990 .

[24]  Ralph L. Rosnow,et al.  Essentials of Behavioral Research: Methods and Data Analysis , 1984 .

[25]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Varieties of attention , 1984 .

[26]  K. Nuechterlein,et al.  Information processing and attentional functioning in the developmental course of schizophrenic disorders. , 1984, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[27]  C. Gross,et al.  Perception of symmetry in infancy. , 1981 .

[28]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory , 1980 .

[29]  K. Nuechterlein.  Reaction time and attention in schizophrenia: a critical evaluation of the data and theories. , 1977, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[30]  Walter Schneider,et al.  Controlled and Automatic Human Information Processing: 1. Detection, Search, and Attention. , 1977 .

[31]  T. Bower.  The determinants of perceptual unity in infancy , 1965 .