In the Journals
“Special Scientific Issue-The Citizen and Re-
search.” Mental Hygiene, 50-4 (October,
1966) 144 pp.
Mental Hygiene is one of the oldest periodicals
dealing with the behavioral sciences. For a view
of general knowledge about psychiatry, psychology,
sociology, and the activity therapies, it can be
recommended as important reading for music
therapists. Book reviews appearing quarterly are
excellent.In this issue there are 27 papers of
varying interest. Three of these are briefly re­
viewed below.
Robert H. Felix, “Basic Research and Mental
Illness.” pp. 493-502.
Concerning heredity and mental illness:
Investigators have recently studied five families
with identical twins in which one twin had
schizophrenia and the other one did not. In such
cases, the investigators believe that the reason
one twin becomes ill and the other does not must
lie in differences in interpersonal relationships,
stress and growth experiences, or nongenetic, bio­
logic factors. In all five pairs of twins studied, the
one who became schizophrenic was smaller and
lighter at birth than the co-twin. It was concluded
that these children were accordingly perceived by
the mother as being in more need of nurturing and
thereby requiring more protection, attention; and
involvement. (p. 497)
Another investigator concluded that an in­
herited factor in schizophrenia is probable; that the
course of the illness is manifested by clinical sub­
types; that various behaviors during psychosis re­
flect the inherited factor whereas the severity of
the illness reflects primarily environmental factors
... (P. 498)
Concerning living space:
Recently it has been demonstrated that living room
or space is an important factor in both the induc­
tion of, and the relief from, stress, but that this
is a little understood phenomenon. The need to lay
claim to and organize territory and to maintain a
pattern of discreet distances from one’s fellow man
is thought to be just as basic as the need for food,
sex, and approval... (P. 499)
Some of the more startling effects of crowding
have been seen in animal studies. Findings suggest
that crowding induces stress, causing disturbed
behavior and sometimes even death from kidney
and other diseases affecting adrenal output. Crowd­
ing extends its effects to subsequent generations
through physiologic stress effects in the mothers,
... A more recent study has shown that mice
raised under crowded conditions develop enlarged
adrenal glands and show agitated behavior. (p.
499)
DECEMBER, 1966
Hudson Hoagland, “Neurological Considerations.”
pp. 510-512.
Let us consider the first aspect of learning that
appears
to depend
upon reverberating nerve im­
pulses in the brain. After a learning experience
there is a time during which the experience persists
in a labile state, since it can be erased by adminis­
tering certain drugs, anesthetics, or electroconvul­
sive shocks to the animals for a short period
During this early stage of the learning experience,
electrical activity of a diffuse nature can be Picked
Downloaded from http://jmt.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida Atlantic University on September 8, 2015
up over wide areas of the brain, but this activity
is reduced or disappears later when the learned act
becomes habituated.
These widespread responses of electrical activity of
the brain involved in learning are consistent with
Lashley’s findings that the engram is not specifically
localized, but depends upon a mass of cortex in­
volving many remote neurones, as may be demon­
strated by surgical removal of various cortical areas
and by incisions crisscrossing the cortex so as to
interrupt fiber tracts. Such operations do not cause
failure of memory of learned behavior Provided a
sufficient amount of cortex is retained. (p. 511)
Sachs found that dull cats were made to learn
more rapidly by the injection of small amounts of
Potassium directly into the brain. Conversely, small
amounts of calcium injected into the brain before
each learning trial slowed the learning of the
response. It is interesting to consider the future
implications of this work for human learning prob­
lems. (p. 511)
Bubich and Jacobsen have reported that RNA may
be transferred from brains of rats that have learned
a maze to brains of other rats, which then acquire
maze skill very rapidly. They have also demon­
strated this phenomenon by using brain RNA from
learned rats and injecting it into “unlearned”
hamsters, which facilitated the latter’s maze learn­
ing. (p. 512)
David F. Ricks and Gene Nameche, “Symbiosis,
Sacrifice, and Schizophrenia.” pp. 541-551.
The authors define the symbiotic union as:
A parent and the child form an inseparable unit,
Prolonged over a long period beyond the usual end
of symbiosis. The child is not considered a Separate
person and boundries between parent and child are
not recognized. (p. 547)
Sacrifice is defined in this manner:
At some Point in his development the child
comes to be openly considered an outsider, a threat
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