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A Psychological Phenomenon That Accompanies a Certain Physiological Change

ENOCH CALLAWAY III, M.D.; DONALD DEMBO, M.D.

A.M.A. Arch Neurol Psychiatry. 1958;79(1):74-90.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Introduction

Changes in attention must be reflections of underlying neurophysiological change. While one set of objects or factors occupies the center of attention, more peripheral factors in the environment may still influence behavior. The relative influence of peripheral factors reflects the focus of attention, and a narrowed focus of attention (i. e., a decreased influence of peripheral factors) seems related to some neurophysiological component of acute stress.

The existence of such a relationship can be demonstrated best by uncovering its details, and such details would be most useful. The better one understands how physiological changes influence attention, the better one can predict and control the effects of drugs and emotions. This paper describes a search for details of the relationship between narrowed attention and physiological change.

We first studied the connection between attention and physiological change by observing the way people judge sizes.¹ We had our subjects adjust the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Baltimore

From the Psychiatric Institute, University of Maryland School of Medicine and College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Aug. 14, 1957.

This work was supported by Research Grant M-863, from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, and by Army Contract DA-18-108-CML-632.

All of the studies reported both in this paper and in the paper that follows were conducted under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Jacob E. Finesinger, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry. Practically, the experiments were made possible by the technical assistance of Albert Bullis, John Alexander, Jean N. Scher, Charles Parker, and Jeanette Rayner. Many colleagues, both at the University of Maryland and elsewhere, made criticisms and suggestions. Finally, the Maryland Association of Private Practicing Psychiatrists awarded their first annual research prize to some preliminary portions of this work.