RATING SCALE AND RESPONSE TIME ANALYSES OF VISUAL FLICKER IN DEPRESSED PATIENTS AND NORMAL SUBJECTS.
Item
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Title
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RATING SCALE AND RESPONSE TIME ANALYSES OF VISUAL FLICKER IN DEPRESSED PATIENTS AND NORMAL SUBJECTS.
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Identifier
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AAI8401935
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identifier
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8401935
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Creator
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HERSKOVIC, JOSEPH ELLIOTT.
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Contributor
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Mitchell L. Kietzman
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Date
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1983
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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Using signal detection methods to obtain separate measures of sensory sensitivity and response criterion, 11 major depressive patients, 5 dysthymic patients, and 9 normal control subjects were tested on a visual flicker discrimination task. It was hypothesized that major depressive patients would have the lowest flicker sensitivity values, dysthymic patients would have higher values, and normal control subjects would have the highest values. In addition, it was hypothesized that major depressive patients would respond significantly more conservatively than either the dysthymic patients or the normal subjects.;A second purpose was to compare rating scale and response time procedures. It was hypothesized that these procedures would yield similar conclusions with respect to visual flicker performance and depression.;The subject's task was to discriminate between a flickering light (16 Hz) and a fused light (116 Hz) which were equated for duration, apparent brightness, and probability of occurrence. Subjects were instructed to respond to each trial by saying "flicker" or "fused" and to rate the confidence of their response by saying "positive", "fairly sure", or "guess". In addition, response times were measured from the onset of the stimulus to a finger lift response which subjects were instructed to make as soon as they decided whether the stimulus was flickering or fused. Rating scale receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated from the confidence ratings. Response time ROC curves were generated in an analogous manner by assuming that faster response times meant greater response confidence.;The results indicate that, in general, major depressive patients respond more conservatively than either dysthymic patients or normal subjects. The results also indicate that these subject groups do not significantly differ on flicker sensitivity.;The major conclusions are that previously reported visual flicker differences between depressed patients and normal subjects were probably due to the different decision-making strategies used by the patients and not due to flicker sensitivity differences between the groups and that the rating scale and response time procedures yield similar conclusions with respect to visual flicker sensitivity and response criterion.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
