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Obsessional Cognition: Performance on Two Numerical Tasks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Graham F. Reed*
Affiliation:
York University, Toronto, Canada

Summary

It is argued that obsessional indecision reflects a formal cognitive characteristic, and should therefore be detectable in slower performance of insignificant, neutral tasks. The obsessional will not be handicapped in structured tasks requiring concentration and a deductive approach, but he will be slower in less structured tasks requiring a predominantly inductive approach. Results from two neutral (numerical) tasks support the predictions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1977 

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