Search PubMedSearch

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Perceptual Defense”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Predicting perceptual defense.

Perceptual defense as a phenomenon was proposed by McGinnies in 1949. His findings were, in main, replicated by York, et al. in 1984 and extended by Perroncel, et al. in 1990. The present purpose was to assess whether four independent variables, one related to emotional arousal (GSR) and three, related to connotative word meaning (Evaluative, Potency, and Activity scores from Semantic Differential words used in the Perroncel, et al. study), could predict the perceptual defense phenomenon. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) was .19; however, the percent variance accounted for by the four independent variables was 3%. Clearly, further research is necessary to specify what factors predict the perceptual defense effect.

Adult

Prediction of perceptual defense from experimental stress and susceptibility to stress as indicated by thematic apperception.

The present investigation tested the hypothesis advanced by J. Inglis (1961) that perceptual defense and perceptual vigilance result from an interaction between personality differences and degrees of experimental stress. The design, which controlled for questionable procedures used in previous studies, utilized 32 introverts and 32 extraverts, half male and half female, in an experiment with a visual recognition-task. Results indicated that under low-stress conditions introverts and extraverts identified by their response to a thematic apperception task react to threatening stimuli with perceptual defense and perceptual vigilance, respectively. Under high-stress conditions, type of avoidance activity reverses; extraverts react with perceptual defense and introverts with perceptual vigilance. It was suggested that, when both personality and stress variables are controlled, results of the perceptual defense paradigm are predictable and consistent, in support of Inglis' hypothesis.

Anxiety

Perceptual defense, a replication.

McGinnies ' (1949) study on perceptual defense was replicated. No significant results were noted for galvanic skin responses. Threshold differences were significant; taboo words had higher thresholds than neutral words. Possibly "emotionality" and "threat" may require separate operational definitions if the effect, "perceptual defense," is to be clearly demonstrated.

Emotions

Perceptual defense and vulnerability to postpartum depression.

The objective was to assess the relationship between vulnerability to postpartum depression and perceptual defense evoked by tachistoscopic stimuli alluding to perinatal themes in pregnant women. Tachistoscopic stimuli have been shown to produce different thresholds of conscious identification according to their emotional content: a phenomenon termed perceptual defense. A total of 412 women in their 3rd of 4th month of pregnancy were asked to identify 14 pictures and 18 verbal stimuli shown for initially very brief but increasing durations. Presentation times required for a correct identification were measured. Depression was assessed, at 2 and 6 months postdelivery, by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale: 53 women were defined as depressed by a score > or = 15. Discriminant analysis showed that the women who would become depressed 7 to 11 months later were slower than the nondepressed to identify 5 stimuli alluding to pregnancy, sexuality or a father image. Particular attitudes towards the themes of being pregnant, of sexuality and of the father could be components of a psychological predisposition to the development of depressed mood in the postpartum.

Adult

Evidence for perceptual defense using a lexical decision task.

In a tachistoscopic experiment employing a lexical-decision task, it was demonstrated that emotional ("taboo") words are not responded to as quickly or as accurately as non-emotional ("neutral") words by 32 college students. The results suggest evidence for "perceptual defense" uncontaminated by response bias.

Adult