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Drugs and Personality

XII. A comparison of several drugs by the flicker-fusion method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

H. C. Holland
H. C. Holland*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital
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Extract

The phenomenon of flicker fusion requires no elaboration to the modern reader. Its psychological, physiological, physical determinants have been outlined by an immense literature (1). Even the limited field of the effects of chemical agents on flicker and fusion is great. In a recent review Landis (2) went so far as to suggest that CFF might be employed as a method of standardizing the depressant effects of somnifacient drugs (Landis (2)). Despite contradictions, which may occur due to the biphasic characters of certain drug effects, the barbiturates and similar depressant compounds tend to depress CFF whereas the stimulants tend to raise it. The effects of alcohol and caffeine are still unclear (Simonson and Brozeck (3)). Whether the drugs affect the organism towards greater or lesser total sensitivity or whether the changes are due to some complex function of, say, the light/dark ratio is also unclear.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 106 , Issue 444 , July 1960 , pp. 858 - 861
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1960 

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References

1 Landis, C., “An annotated bibliography of flicker fusion phenomena”, Armed Forces Nat. Res. Council, 1953. Michigan.Google Scholar
2 Idem , “Determinants of the critical flicker-fusion threshold”, Physiol. Rev., 1954, 34, 259–286.Google Scholar
3 Simonson, E., and Brozek, J., “Flicker fusion frequency: background and application”, ibid., 1952, 32, 349–378.Google Scholar
4 Eysenck, H. J. (Ed.), Experiments in Personality, 1960. London: Routledge ' Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
5 Idem , The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria, 1957. London: Routledge ' Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
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