The Role of Perceptual Laws in the Rorschach Test

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: to ascertain the perceptual deficits in schizophrenic subjects and to test the assumption that the Rorschach is mainly a perceptual task. Forty-eight subjects participated in the study, distributed in six groups of eight subjects each: normals, affective disorders, and four groups of schizophrenics (chronic paranoid, chronic nonparanoid, acute paranoid, and acute nonparanoid). They were given a perceptual test developed by Fernández-Trespalacios, Bermudez, and Luna (1979). Contrary to previous findings, no differences in the perceptual test were found among the groups. In the second part of the study, a group of schizophrenic subjects was given the Rorschach and the perceptual test in a balanced order. Subsequently, subjects in the experimental group were trained in the perceptual laws they had failed. Comparison of the Rorschach protocols obtained before and after this training failed to show any significant differences in the expected direction, thus questioning the perceptual nature of this test. Interestingly, an increase in negative categories of the Rorschach subsequent to the perceptual training was observed.