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Vecchio A, Roberti E, Pulido SG, Orlandi M, Provenzi L, Mensi M. Only an inkblot? A literature review of the neural correlates of the Rorschach inkblot test. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 152:105281. [PMID: 37311472 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The Rorschach inkblot test allows access to psychological processes that usually do not emerge in self-report measures and it has been widely used in clinical psychological and psychiatric settings. Recordings of brain activity during the administration of the Rorschach inkblots test could provide information on neural correlates of the underlying perceptual-cognitive processing and potentially identify neuroimaging markers of psychopathology risk. The present paper offers a systematization of the available literature on the Rorschach inkblot test and neuroimaging research. The 13 selected studies had been conducted with healthy participants and using fMRI, EEG, and fNIRS to investigate the neural underpinnings of Rorschach inkblot test responses. The neural processes underlying the visual, social, and emotional processes described by the included papers are systematically summarized. Research on the neural correlates of the Rorschach inkblot test is promising and would further benefit from studies on clinical populations, broader samples, and younger age groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arianna Vecchio
- Developmental Psychopathology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Elisa Roberti
- Developmental Psychobiology Lab, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Sayreth Giovannetti Pulido
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Via Agostino Bassi, 21, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Marika Orlandi
- Developmental Psychopathology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Livio Provenzi
- Developmental Psychobiology Lab, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Via Agostino Bassi, 21, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
| | - Martina Mensi
- Developmental Psychopathology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy
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Acklin MW. Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics. JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES 2023; 59:148-170. [PMID: 36511395 DOI: 10.1002/jhbs.22235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
This article examines the milieu of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics (1921/2021) under development between 1911 and his death in 1922 and explores new evidence about the direction Rorschach's test might have taken after publication of Psychodiagnostics. This includes direct and indirect influences from turn of the century continental philosophy and science and innovative colleagues in the Swiss psychiatric and psychoanalytic societies. The availability of newly translated scholarship, including the correspondence between Ludwig Binswanger and Hermann Rorschach following the 1921 publication of Psychodiagnostics, Binswanger's posthumous 1923 commentary in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and recent new translation of Psychodiagnostics, permits a fresh appraisal of the milieu and foundations of Rorschach's development. Understanding these sources and influences opens new vistas in reappraising the nature of Rorschach's "test theory" which Rorschach considered undeveloped at the time of his death. This paper presents new evidence that, under the influence of Rorschach's close colleague, Ludwig Binswanger, the Geisteswissenschaften and phenomenology might have figured prominently in future developments. The paper concludes that Rorschach, preoccupied with considerations of kinesthetic subjectivity in his innovative conceptualization of human movement responses, was a nascent phenomenologist whose untimely death cut short further developments in his theory of the test.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marvin W Acklin
- Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns Medical School & Independent Practice, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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Using Quantitative and Qualitative Rorschach Data within a Multi-Method, Forensic Assessment of Dissociative Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURY & LAW 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12207-022-09453-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Ales F, Meyer GJ, Mihura JL, Loia AC, Pasqualini S, Zennaro A, Giromini L. Can the Rorschach be Administered Remotely? A Review of Options and a Pilot Study Using a Newly Developed R-PAS App. PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURY & LAW 2022; 16:1-17. [PMID: 35308458 PMCID: PMC8923744 DOI: 10.1007/s12207-022-09447-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has required psychologists to adopt measures like physical distancing and mask wearing, though other safety procedures such as travel restrictions or prohibitions on in-person practice and research have fostered the use of tele-health tools. In this article, we review options for using the Rorschach task via videoconference and provide preliminary data from using a new electronic app for remote R-PAS administration to determine whether the remote administration in an electronic form yields different information than in-person administration with the cards in hand. As a pilot study, our focus is on the "first factor" of all Rorschach scores, i.e., complexity. Data were collected from 60 adult Italian community volunteers, and statistical analyses evaluated the extent to which the average complexity score significantly departed from R-PAS normative expectations (SS = 100), accompanied by Bayesian likelihoods for supporting the null hypothesis. Results suggest that the general level of complexity shown by the test-takers when administered the Rorschach remotely with the new R-PAS app closely resembles that previously observed using "standard" in-person procedures. Tentative analyses of other R-PAS scores suggested normative departures that could be due to the effects of the app, testing at home, or responses to the pandemic. We offer recommendations for future research and discuss practical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Ales
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10123 Turin, TO Italy
| | | | - Joni L. Mihura
- Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH USA
| | - Andrea Corgiat Loia
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10123 Turin, TO Italy
| | - Sara Pasqualini
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10123 Turin, TO Italy
| | - Alessandro Zennaro
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10123 Turin, TO Italy
| | - Luciano Giromini
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10123 Turin, TO Italy
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Ales F, Giromini L, Bosi J, Zennaro A. White space responses in the Rorschach: Using eye-tracking to further understand the distinction between space reversal and space integration. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02632-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Steinert SW, Daugherty AM, Shankar S, Schwarb H, Cerjanic A, Sutton BP, Arble EP. A performance-based measure of emotion response control: A preliminary MRI study. Scand J Psychol 2021; 62:321-327. [PMID: 33403701 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Identifying performance-based assessments of emotion regulation is needed for the study of myriad mood and neurological disorders. Color and form responses on the Rorschach Inkblot Method are valid measures of emotion response control, but have not been studied in relation to known neural correlations of emotion regulation. A discrepancy of color (CF + C) greater than form (FC) responses suggests low cognitive control over emotional responses. This preliminary report explores the discrepancy between form-color responses as a correlate of regional cortical thickness. A sample of community-dwelling adults were administered the Rorschach Inkblot Method and participated in a structural MRI scan. Greater middle frontal cortex thickness was associated with a positive discrepancy score [(CF + C) - FC], indicating less emotion response control (rs = 0.48, p < 0.05); a moderate, non-significant correlation was also observed with insula cortex (rs = 0.42, p = 0.07).The results provide evidence in support of the Rorschach Inkblot Method as a valid behavioral measure of emotion response control. More specifically, these results support the use of color-related variables included in contemporary evidence-based Rorschach methods. The results are discussed with implications for the study of emotion regulation in mood disorders and sensitivity analyses based on the observed effect sizes are reported to inform future study planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven W Steinert
- Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
| | - Ana M Daugherty
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.,Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.,Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Sneha Shankar
- Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
| | - Hillary Schwarb
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.,Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Alex Cerjanic
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.,Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Bradley P Sutton
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.,Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Eamonn P Arble
- Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
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Vitolo E, Giromini L, Viglione DJ, Cauda F, Zennaro A. Complexity and Cognitive Engagement in the Rorschach Task: An fMRI Study. J Pers Assess 2020; 103:634-644. [PMID: 33166191 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2020.1842429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Recently, an eye-tracking study found that Complexity and other R-PAS variables located in the Engagement and Cognitive Processing domain correlated with a proxy marker for cognitive effort and engagement. The goal of the current study was to test the robustness and validity of those eye-tracking findings by inspecting fMRI data. We hypothesized that the greater the level of engagement and cognitive effort put in place by a Rorschach test-taker, the greater the engagement of his/her cortical areas reflecting ongoing top-down attentional processes should be. We re-analyzed archival fMRI data from 26 healthy participants exposed to the Rorschach inkblots with the instruction to think of what they might be. The association of various Engagement and Cognitive Processing R-PAS scores to increased BOLD signals in the Dorsal Attention Network of the brain was examined. As expected, Complexity showed the strongest effect size across all R-PAS variables under investigation (d = 0.43), followed by Synthesis (d = 0.32) and Human Movement (d = 0.21). Noteworthy, the correlation between the effect sizes found in the current fMRI study and those found in the previously published eye-tracking study consists of an impressive r = .80.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Vitolo
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Donald J Viglione
- Calfornia School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Franco Cauda
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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