Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T16:22:24.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effects of Meprobamate on Perception

II. The Visual After-Image

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

C. G. Costello
C. G. Costello*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry (Maudsley Hospital), University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There is no discussion in Stevens' (16) or Osgood's (14) textbooks of experimental psychology of the contribution of cortical functions to the production of visual after-images. Woodworth (19) presents a theory of after-images involving the cortex in the first edition of his book. It is not repeated in the second edition. There is, however, a large number of reported studies indicating the importance of cortical functions in the production of after-images (e.g. 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17). In view of these studies it was decided to use the afterimage in a further attempt to verify or disprove the drug action hypothesis advanced by Eysenck in a previous paper (2). This hypothesis stated that stimulant drugs increased excitatory potential and decreased inhibitory potential, while depressant drugs decreased excitatory potential and increased inhibitory potential.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 106 , Issue 442 , January 1960 , pp. 326 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1960 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Creed, R. S., and Harding, R. D., “Latency of after-images and interaction between the two retino-cerebral apparatuses in man”, J. Physiol., 1930, 69, 423–441.Google Scholar
2. Eysenck, H. J., “Drugs and personality: I. Theory and methodology”, J. Ment. Sci., 1957, 103, 119–131.Google Scholar
3. Idem, Granger, G. W., and Brengelmann, J. C., Perceptual Processes and Mental Illness, 1957. Maudsley Monographs No. 2, Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
4. Idem , Personal communication.Google Scholar
5. Fry, G. A., and Robertson, V. M., “After-images observed in complete darkness”, Amer. J. Psychol., 1937, 49, 265–276.Google Scholar
6. Gellhorn, E., and Spiesman, I., “The influence of hyperpnea and of variations of the O2 and CO2 tension in the inspired air upon after-images”, Amer, J. Physiol., 1935, 112, 620–626.Google Scholar
7. Granit, R., Hohenthal, T., and Uoti, A., “On the latency of negative after-images in relation to brightness of stimulus”, Saertryk Act. Opth., 1930, 8, 137–154.Google Scholar
8. Klein, G. S., and Krech, D., “Cortical conductivity in the brain-injured”, J. Pers., 1952–53, 21, 118–148.Google Scholar
9. Levine, J., and Graham, C. H., “The latency of negative visual after effects as a function of the intensity of illumination on an adjacent retinal region”, Amer. J. Psychol., 1937, 49, 661–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. McDougall, W., “Some observations in support of Thomas Young's theory of light and colour vision I”, Mind, 1901, 10, 52–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. McFarland, R. A., Hurvich, L. M., and Halperin, M. H., “The effect of oxygen deprivation on the relation between stimulus intensity and the latency of visual afterimages”, Amer. J. Physiol., 1943, 140, 354–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Misiak, H., and Lozito, C. C., “Latency and duration of monocular and binocular afterimages”, J. exp. Psychol, 1951, 42, 247–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Nagasawa, A., and Obonai, T., “A study of the relation between the visual after-image and brain waves”, Jap. J. Psychol, 1957, 27, 342–351.Google Scholar
14. Osgood, C. E., Method and Theory in Experimental Psychology, 1953. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
15. Oswald, I., “After-images from retina and brain”, Quart. J. exp. Psychol, 1957, 9, 88–100.Google Scholar
16. Stevens, S. S. (ed.), Handbook of Experimental Psychology, 1951. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.Google Scholar
17. Weiskrantz, L., “An unusual case of after imagery following fixation of an ‘imaginary’ visual pattern”, Quart. J. exp. Psychol., 1950, 2, 170–175.Google Scholar
18. Withers, W. C. R., “A new tachistoscope and cycling timer”, Brit. J. Psychology, 1954, 45, 217–219.Google Scholar
19. Woodworth, R. S., Experimental Psychology, 1950. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd. Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.