Corresponding Author Information: Benjamin A. Berry
Session Abstract: This session focuses on recent research using an experimental and/or neurophysiological approach to advance our understanding of the Rorschach response process. First, Berry and Meyer report on an experimental manipulation of visual processes on the Rorschach task through the use of specially-designed goggles. In two experiments, they examine the impact of (1) right- and left-lateralized brain processes and (2) induced impairments of visual attention on Rorschach performance, with particular emphasis on the inkblot locations participants use to structure their responses. Next, Juve et al. present findings from an eye tracking study demonstrating that individuals with increased self-reported distress tend to show shallower, less complex visual processing. Ales et al. then present eye tracking data showing that Space Reversal and Space Integration responses involve two distinct visual processing approaches to solving the Rorschach task. Giromini et al. close the session by presenting fMRI data on the role of the dorsal attention system in the production of more versus less complex Rorschach responses.
Chair Information: Luciano Giromini | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Presentation 1 Title: The Effects of Manipulating Visual Processes on Rorschach Performance
Presenters:
Benjamin A. Berry | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Gregory J. Meyer | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Emily T. O'Gorman | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Manali Roy | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Larson E. Sholander | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Joni L. Mihura | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Presentation 2 Title: General Psychological Distress and Visual Processing on the Rorschach: Evidence for shallower, less complex processing with increases in self-reported distress
Presenters:
Mindee Juve | Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
Mellisa Boyle | Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
Ellen Day | Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
Barry Dauphin | Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Ohio
Harold Greene | Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
Presentation 3 Title: On the use of white space in the Rorschach: An eye tracking study
Presenters:
Francesca Ales | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Luciano Giromini | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Alessandro Zennaro | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Presentation 4 Title: Dorsal Attention Network and Rorschach Complexity: An fMRI Study
Presenters:
Luciano Giromini | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Enrico Vitolo | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Donald J. Viglione | California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego, California
Alessandro Zennaro | Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy
Benjamin Berry
Benjamin Berry graduated from the University of Toledo in 2020. His research has focused on basic visual processes underlying Rorschach performance, particularly visual attention. Multimethod psychological assessment is a central component of his clinical activities in his current role as a postdoctoral fellow at The Menninger Clinic.
Dr. Luciano Giromini
Luciano Giromini, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, and core faculty member for the Ph.D. program in Psychological, Anthropological and Educational Sciences of the University of Turin, Italy. He has taught psychological assessment and psychometrics at two Italian and one Californian universities, and is currently the coordinator of the Evidence-Based Psychological Assessment research team of University of Turin. He is one of the authors of the Inventory of Problems (IOP-29 and IOP-M) and Assessment Section Head for the journal Psychological Injury and Law.
Dr. Gregory J. Meyer
Gregory J. Meyer, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo, where he has been since 2003. Before this, he was at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was the director of the inpatient and outpatient Psychological Assessment Service. He was the Editor of the Journal of Personality Assessment from 2002 to 2013. His research focuses on psychological assessment, with an emphasis on the integration of personality assessment methods. Much of his work has addressed performance-based measures of psychological processes, most notably with the Rorschach. With more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, he has made many contributions to the published literature in this area, as well as in psychometrics and assessment more generally. He regularly provides invited lectures and trainings internationally. On four occasions, the Society for Personality Assessment recognized him with Distinguished Contribution Awards for articles in the published literature. He also received the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Assessment Psychology by the Assessment Section of Clinical Psychology (American Psychological Association, Section IX, Division 12). He is a Fellow of Division 5 (Evaluation, Measurement, & Statistics) of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Personality Assessment. In addition to co-authoring the manual for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, he co-edited a casebook entitled Using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS).
Emily O’Gorman
Emily O’Gorman is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology, with a minor in quantitative psychology, at the University of Toledo, where she is mentored by Dr. Gregory Meyer. Broadly, Emily’s research interests include developmental psychopathology, personality development, and assessment of transdiagnostic factors and processes underlying psychopathology. She is currently involved in two lines of research, one focusing on dimensional assessment of psychotic thought processes and the other on developmental pathways to self and interpersonal dysfunction across childhood and adolescence. She is also completing her clinical placement at the University of Toledo Medical Center working in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Larson Sholander
Larson Sholander is in the middle of his internship at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and he is completing his final year at the University of Toledo clinical psychology doctoral program. His research interests include the response process of different methods of assessment, personality disorders, and serious mental illness. When he isn't "psychologizing," Larson enjoys making pizza, reading, hiking, and traveling.
Dr. Joni L. Mihura
Joni L. Mihura, PhD, ABAP is a Professor of Psychology in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program at the University of Toledo where she teaches graduate courses in Assessment, supervises Assessment Practicum, and undergraduate Psychological Testing and Abnormal Psychology. She is Board Certified in Assessment Psychology (ABAP). Dr. Mihura received early career awards from Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and the American Psychoanalytic Association as well as an SPA award for contributions to the literature. She is a Fellow of SPA, and currently serving as its President-Elect. She has published numerous articles and chapters on psychological assessment, and best known for her groundbreaking work with the Rorschach inkblot test—including systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the test’s validity. She is the co-editor of two recent books—Using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) and the Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Psychological Assessment—and editor of a handbook in progress: The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Psychopathology Assessment. She is the co-developer of a new Rorschach system, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS), for which she presents invited lectures and trainings internationally. In the past few years, Dr. Mihura has been developing a new area of expertise in psychosis for which she currently has articles and chapters in press and presented at the Schizophrenia International Research Society in 2020. Her new area of expertise is designed to inform the development of the new Thought and Perception Assessment System, a Rorschach system designed to specifically assess psychosis.
Dr. Mindee Juve
Mindee Juve, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist at the John H. Bradley Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic. She has been a member of the Vision Research Laboratory (VRL) at the University of Detroit Mercy since 2009. Her research interests include personality assessment, visual information processing, and suicide prevention. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center and postdoctoral fellowship at the Battle Creek VA Medical Center, specializing in PTSD and Outpatient Mental Health.
Dr. Mellisa A. Boyle
Mellisa A. Boyle, Ph.D. is a Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toledo Medical Center. She completed her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy, and conducts research as part of UDM's Vision Research Lab. Her primary research interests are in visual processing, especially utilizing eye-movements as a tool to understand individual differences in information processing strategies. Her most recent area of interest focuses on eye-movements in individuals with psychotic-spectrum thinking. After completing her APPCN fellowship training, she plans to pursue board certification in Clinical Neuropsychology.
Ellen F. Day
Ellen F. Day, M.A. is a Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM). She has been a researcher in UDM's Vision Research Lab (VRL) since August 2015, where her primary research interests investigate eye-movement patterns and individual profiles of looking behavior in ambiguous and unambiguous visual stimuli. She successfully defended her dissertation entitled, "Stimulus-Based Effects and Individual Differences in Eye Movement Behavior When Viewing Ambiguous and Unambiguous Images: An Investigation of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Components of Visual Information Processing" in August 2020. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC for the 2020-2021 training year, with an emphasis in Gerospychology. She aspires to complete postdoctoral fellowship in Geropsychology upon completion of internship training.
Dr. Barry Dauphin
Barry Dauphin, PhD, ABPP is Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is Past President of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39/APA) and a Fellow of APA (Division 39)
Francesca Ales
Francesca Ales is a post-doctoral research fellow at the department of Psychology of the University of Turin, Italy, and a member of the Evidence-Based Psychological Assessment lab. Her research efforts focus on personality and multi-method assessment, Rorschach test and eye tracking.
Enrico Vitolo
I was born in Turin (Italy) in 1988. I got a Bachelor in Psychological Sciences and Techniques in 2013 with a thesis named “The effects of gaze-perception on social cognition”, obtaining a grade of 106/110. In 2015, I got a Master Degree in Clinical Psychology with a thesis named “White matter and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis on connectivity anomalies in the disease’s development”, obtaining a grade of 110/110 cum laude. I started my Ph.D. course in “Psychological, Anthropological, and Educational Sciences” in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Alessandro Zennaro. During these years, I have worked on several issues, such as psychopathological development, neuroscience, and personality assessment. In particular, I have practiced the Rorschach test within the R-PAS method, obtaining the proficiency level in administering and coding. Moreover, I have enlarged my neuroscientific background by approaching Panksepp’s theory of Affective Neurosciences. I have started a collaboration with other researchers for developing an Italian adaptation of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS). During the Ph.D. course, my main research area has been the psychological and neurological features of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Indeed, I have implemented my Ph.D. thesis project on investigating neural correlates and psychological features of emotion regulation processes. In March 2021, I will discuss my Ph.D. thesis.
Dr. Donald J. Viglione
Donald J. Viglione, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Diego. He is a co-author of the two international measures, the Inventory of Problems, a malingering test, and the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, a widely used Rorschach system. At Alliant in San Diego, he was the founding Director of the Doctor of Psychology degree program and later the Director of Doctor Philosophy degree. He trained with Dr. John Exner at Long Island University, where he was awarded his Ph.D and served an internship in the United States Navy. He has focused his teaching, research, and clinical/forensic practice on assessment and has published more than 100 professional papers. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology and a Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment.