Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qlrfm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-14T00:57:58.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Perceptual Learning with Right Unilateral versus Bilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Walter F. Daniel
Affiliation:
VA Medical Center, 508 Fulton Street, Durham, NC 27705, USA
Herbert F. Crovitz*
Affiliation:
VA Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center
Richard D. Weiner
Affiliation:
VA Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center
*
Correspondence.

Summary

Perceptual learning was examined with respect to variations in ECT electrode placement (bilateral versus right unilateral) and ECT stimulus waveform (sinusoidal versus brief-pulse). While patients receiving right unilateral ECT demonstrated more perceptual learning than did those receiving bilateral ECT, no difference in perceptual learning resulted from the variation in electrical stimulus waveform. Furthermore, the amount of perceptual learning was unaffected by EEG seizure duration and by the total amount of electrical stimulus energy delivered. The theoretical issue of whether an electrical or a seizure difference between bilateral and right unilateral ECT is responsible for inter-group learning or memory differences is discussed, as well as practical issues related to the choice of electrode placement.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, R. & Taylor, M. (1976) Diencephalic stimulation and the effects of ECT in endogenous depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 482–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abrams, R., Taylor, M., Faber, R., TS'O, T. O. T., Williams, R. A. & Almy, G. (1983) Bilateral versus unilateral electroconvulsive therapy: efficacy in melancholia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 463–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Abrams, R., Taylor, M., Faber, R., Volavka, J. & Fink, M. (1973) EEG seizure patterns during multiple unilateral and bilateral ECT. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 14, 25–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Altman, J. A., Balonov, L. J. & Deglin, V. L. (1979) Effects of unilateral disorder of the brain hemisphere function in man on directional hearing. Neuropsychologia, 17, 295301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1978) Electroconvulsive Therapy (Task Force Report 14), Washington: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Bear, D. M. (1983) Hemispheric specialization and the neurology of emotion [review]. Archives of Neurology, 40, 195202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berent, S., Cohen, B. D. & Silverman, A. J. (1975) Changes in verbal and nonverbal learning following a single left or right unilateral electroconvulsive treatment. Biological Psychiatry, 10, 95100.Google ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D. N. & Baddeley, A. D. (1976) What can amnesic patients learn? Neuropsychologia, 14, 111–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clyma, E. A. (1975) Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy: how to determine which hemisphere is dominant. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 372–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, B. D., Noblin, C. D. & Silverman, A. J. (1974) Functional asymmetry of the human brain. Science, 162, 475–7.Google Scholar
Cohen, B. D., Noblin, C. D. & Silverman, A. J., Penick, S. B., & Tarter, R. E., (1974) Antidepressant effects of unilateral electric convulsive shock therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 673–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, N. J. & Squire, L. R. (1980) Preserved learning and retention of pattern–analyzing skill in amnesia: dissociation of knowing how and knowing that. Science, 210, 207–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, C. G., Belton, G. P., Abra, J. C. & Dunn, B. E. (1970) The amnesic and therapeutic effects of bilateral and unilateral ECT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 6978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronin, D., Bodley, P., Potts, L., Mather, M. D., Gardener, R. K. & Tobin, J. C. (1970) Unilateral and bilateral ECT: A study of memory disturbance and relief from depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 33, 705–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crovitz, H. F., Harvey, M. T. & McClanahan, S. (1981) Hidden memory: a rapid method for the study of amnesia using perceptual learning. Cortex, 17, 273–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniel, W. F. & Crovitz, H. F. (1982) Recovery of orientation after electroconvulsive therapy [review]. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 66, 421–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daniel, W. F. & Crovitz, H. F. (1983) Acute memory impairment following elctroconvulsive therapy: 2. effects of electrode placement [review]. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 5768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniel, W. F. & Weiner, R. D. & Crovitz, H. F. (1983) Autobiographical amnesia with ECT: an analysis of the roles of stimulus wave form, electrode placement, stimulus energy, and seizure length. Biological Psychiatry, 18, 121–6.Google ScholarPubMed
D'Elia, G. (1970) Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (Supplement 215), 198.Google Scholar
D'Elia, G. (1976) Memory changes after unilateral electroconvulsive therapy with different electrode positions. Cortex, 12, 280–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Elia, G. & Raotma, H. (1975) Is unilateral ECT less effective than bilateral ECT? [review]. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 83–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Renzi, E. (1982) Disorders of Space Exploration and Cognition. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Dornbush, R. L., Abrams, R. & Fink, M. (1971) Memory changes after unilateral and bilateral convulsive therapy (ECT). British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 75–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. D., Woodruff, P. A., Winokur, A. & Munoz, R. (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 5763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraser, R. M. & Glass, I. B. (1980) Unilateral and bilateral ECT in elderly patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 62, 1331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fromm–Auch, D. (1982) Comparison of unilateral and bilateral ECT: evidence for selective memory impairment (review). British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 608–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haluday, A. M., Davison, K., Browne, M. W. & Kreeger, L. C. (1968) A comparison of the effects on depression and memory of bilateral ECT and unilateral ECT to the dominant and non-dominant hemispheres. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 9971012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 23, 5662.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirst, W. (1982) The amnesic syndrome: descriptions and explanations [review]. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 435–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahn, R. L., Pollack, M. & Fink, M. (1960) Figure-ground discrimination after induced altered brain function. Archives of Neurology, 2, 547–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirk, R. E. (1968) Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences. Belmont: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Kriss, A., Halliday, A. M., Halliday, E. & Pratt, R. T. C. (1978) EEG immediately after unilateral ECT. Acta Psychiatricia Scandinavica, 58, 231–44.Google ScholarPubMed
Lerer, B. & Stanley, M. (1984) ECT-induced memory impairment—a cholinergic mechanism? The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 2930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liberson, W. T. (1948) Brief stimulus therapy: psysiological and clinical observations. American Journal of Psychiatry, 105, 2839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malitz, S., Sackeim, H. A. & Decina, P. (1982) ECT in treatment of major affective disorders: clinical and basic research issues. The Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 7, 126–34.Google Scholar
McKenna, P. & Pratt, R. T. C. (1983) The effects of unilateral non-dominant ECT on memory and perceptual functions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 276–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milner, B., Corkin, S. & Teuber, H. L. (1968) Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of H.M. Neuropsychologia, 6, 215–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, B., Corkin, S. & Teuber, H. L. (1968) Visual recognition and recall after right temporallobe excision in man. Neuropsychologia, 6, 191209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nebes, R. D. (1972) Dominance of the minor hemisphere in commissurotomized man on a test of figurai unification. Brain, 95, 633–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollack, M., Kahn, R. L., Karp, E. & Fink, M. (1962) Tachistoscopic perception after induced altered brain function: influence of mental set. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 134, 422–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, T. R. P. (1981) Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy for depression [letter]. New England Journal of Medicine, 304, p. 53.Google ScholarPubMed
Robertson, A. D. & Inglis, J. (1978) Memory deficits after electroconvulsive therapy: cerebral asymmetry and dualencoding. Neuropsychologia, 16, 179–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robin, A. & De Tissera, S. (1982) A double–blind controlled comparison of the therapeutic effects of low and high energy electroconvulsive therapies. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 357–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sackeim, H. A., Greenberg, M. S., Weiman, A. L., Gur, R. C., Hungerbuhler, J. P. & Geschwind, N. (1982) Hemispheric asymmetry in the expression of positive and negative emotions: neurologic evidence. Archives of Neurology, 39, 210–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sidman, M., Stoddard, L. T. & Mohr, J. P. (1968) Some additional quantitative observations of immediate memory in a patient with bilateral hippocampal lesions. Neuropsychologia, 6, 245–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, L. R. & Slater, P. C. (1978) Bilateral and unilateral ECT: effects on verbal and nonverbal memory. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 1316–20.Google ScholarPubMed
Staton, R. D., Hass, P. J. & Brumback, R. A. (1981) Electroencephalographic recording during bitemporal and unilateral non–dominant hemisphere (Lancaster position) electroconvulsive therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 42, 264–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Warrington, E. K. & Weiskrantz, L. (1968) New method of testing long–term retention with special reference to amnesic patients. Nature, 217, 972–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weaver, L. A., Ives, J. O., Williams, R. & Nies, A. (1977) A comparison of standard alternating current and low-energy brief-pulse electrotherapy. Biological Psychiatry, 12, 525–43.Google ScholarPubMed
Weaver, L. A., Ives, J. O., Williams, R. & Nies, A. (1978) The threshold number of pulse in bilateral and unilateral ECT. Biological Psychiatry, 13, 227–41.Google ScholarPubMed
Weaver, L. A., Ives, J. O., & Nies, A., Williams, R. & Rush, S. (1976) Current density in bilateral and unilateral ECT. Biological Psychiatry, 11, 303–12.Google ScholarPubMed
Weeks, D., Freeman, C. P. L. & Kendell, R. E. (1980) ECT: III: Enduring cognitive deficits? British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 2637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiner, R. D. (1980a) ECT and seizure threshold: effects of stimulus wave form and electrode placement. Biological Psychiatry, 15, 225–41.Google ScholarPubMed
Weiner, R. D. (1980b) The persistence of electroconvulsive therapy-induced changes in the electroencephalogram. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 224–8 [review].CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiner, R. D. (1984) Does ECT cause brain damage? The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, R. D., Rogers, H. J., Welch, C. A., Davidson, J. R. T., Miller, R. D., Weir, D., Cahill, J. F. & Squire, L. R. (1984) ECT stimulus parameters and electrode placement: relevance to therapeutic and adverse effects. In ECT: Basic Mechanisms (eds. Lerer, B., Weiner, R. D., & Belmaker, R. H.). London: John Libbey.Google Scholar
Welch, C. A., Weiner, R. D., Weir, D., Cahill, J. F., Rogers, H. J., Davidson, J., Miller, R. D. & Mandel, M. R. (1982) Efficacy of ECT in the treatment of depression: wave form and electrode placement considerations. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 18, 31–4.Google Scholar
Williams, M. (1953) Investigation of amnesic defects by progressive prompting. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 16, 14–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zinkin, S. & Birtchnell, J. (1968) Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy: its effects on memory and its therapeutic efficacy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 973–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zornetzer, S. (1974) Retrograde amnesia and brain seizures in rodents: electrophysiological and neuro-anatomical analyses. In Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy (eds. Fink, M., Kety, S., McGaugh, J. & Williams, T. A.). Washington: V. H. Winston.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.