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PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL BASES OF PSYCHOSOMAT-

ICS

T. Radil Institute of Physiology. Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences,

Prague, Czechoslovakia

Just verbal use of the slogan ‘psychophysiological’ is gnoseo-

logically 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 contribu-

tions gained by means of psychophysiological experimenta-

tion). 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 dis-

eases, for improving their diagnosis and in some cases even

for curing them. Nevertheless, Psychophysiology and Psycho- somatics are two different, although closely related, fields of

Neuroscience+.

A METHODOLOGICAL FRAME FOR NEURO-

SCIENCES

T. Radil

Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences,

Prague. Czechoslovakia

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 gnoseologi- tally.

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 Psy-

chology, LMU, Munchen, F.R.G.

Illusory auditory reversals of three words were studied with 10

healthy subjects. Artificial computer voice was used for limit-

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 evalu-

ated 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 AND CRIME: A PROSPECTIVE

STUDY

Adrian Raine

University of Southern California, 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. Psychophysiologi-

cal measures of arousal, orienting and attention were mea-

sured in 101 normal 15-year-old males and related to criminal-

ity status assessed 9 years later. Criminals-to-be (n = 17) were

characterized by: (a) significantly reduced electrodermal, car-

diovascular and cortical arousal during a resting condition

(fewer non-specific skin conductance (SC) responses, lower

heart rate levels, more EEG theta activity); (b) reduced elec-

trodermal 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 vari-

ables alone correctly classified 74.7% of all subjects into

criminals/non-criminals. It is concluded that arousal, orient-

ing and attention play an important role in the development

of criminal behavior.

DURATION DISCRIMINATION AND THE CONCEPT OF AUDITORY AGE

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