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Measuring Latent Inhibition?

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swbluto
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26 Sep 2011, 11:36 pm

I heard that low levels of Latent Inhibition is associated with "creativity" mental disorders like bipolar, ADHD and schizophrenia while high levels of Latent Inhibition is associated with aspergers. Now, the question is... how do you measure someone's Latent Inhibition? Is there a test somewhere?



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26 Sep 2011, 11:48 pm

I tried to read up on what latent inhibition is, and I can't make sense of the explanations.



swbluto
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27 Sep 2011, 12:00 am

Verdandi wrote:
I tried to read up on what latent inhibition is, and I can't make sense of the explanations.


From this part from wikipedia:

Quote:
This tendency to disregard or even inhibit formation of memory, by preventing associative learning of observed stimuli, is an unconscious response[3] and is assumed to prevent sensory overload and cognitive overload.


It seems latent inhibition is characterized by the degree of associative learning of observed stimuli. That is, you see/smell/feel/think/etc. of something, and the amount of associations you make between the perception of that thing and pre-existing ideas in the mind characterizes your Latent Inhibition. Those with Low LI tend to make a lot of diverse associations, while those with High LI tend to make a narrow set of associations with a given object/idea.

(Computer Science Analogy) That is, if you were to imagine this in, say, tree graphs... Low LI is characterized by trees with at least 5 children per node, while high LI is associated with binary trees (2 children per node).



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27 Sep 2011, 12:04 am

swbluto wrote:
...while high levels of Latent Inhibition is associated with aspergers.



Have you actually seen this anywhere other than someone theorizing this on these forums and getting large levels of disagreement? I actively had looked into this and had found nothing.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:06 am

Okay, this is what confuses me:

I can't filter a lot of stimuli and I am usually experiencing some degree of sensory overload. This sounds like low latent inhibition.

On the other hand, my brain is such that I tend to make a narrow set of associations with a given object/idea (I wrote a thread about this several months ago), which sounds like high latent inhibition.

How does this reconcile?



swbluto
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27 Sep 2011, 12:18 am

Verdandi wrote:
Okay, this is what confuses me:

I can't filter a lot of stimuli and I am usually experiencing some degree of sensory overload. This sounds like low latent inhibition.


How does sensory overload involve "associative learning"? It doesn't seem to. One operates at the "sensory processing" level while the other operates at the "associative/conceptual" level.

Also, I think the "filter out" idea as involved with sensory overload doesn't apply to associate learning because associative learning is about generating conceptual connections, which really isn't a matter of "filtering", per se, it's more like a process of branching.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:24 am

I think my inhibition of memory is because of a lack of dopamine.

If I'm anything I have low levels of LI. I'm creative and make diverse associations. But then I can be narrow minded too.

I still think this type of thing can't be applied to autism especially when co-morbids come into play.


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27 Sep 2011, 12:27 am

swbluto wrote:
Verdandi wrote:
Okay, this is what confuses me:

I can't filter a lot of stimuli and I am usually experiencing some degree of sensory overload. This sounds like low latent inhibition.


How does sensory overload involve "associative learning"? It doesn't seem to. One operates at the "sensory processing" level while the other operates at the "associative/conceptual" level.

Also, I think the "filter out" idea as involved with sensory overload doesn't apply to associate learning because associative learning is about generating conceptual connections, which really isn't a matter of "filtering", per se, it's more like a process of branching.


I'm sorry but...
WHAT?


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swbluto
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27 Sep 2011, 12:29 am

pensieve wrote:
swbluto wrote:
Verdandi wrote:
Okay, this is what confuses me:

I can't filter a lot of stimuli and I am usually experiencing some degree of sensory overload. This sounds like low latent inhibition.


How does sensory overload involve "associative learning"? It doesn't seem to. One operates at the "sensory processing" level while the other operates at the "associative/conceptual" level.

Also, I think the "filter out" idea as involved with sensory overload doesn't apply to associate learning because associative learning is about generating conceptual connections, which really isn't a matter of "filtering", per se, it's more like a process of branching.


I'm sorry but...
WHAT?


Sensory overloading works at the "sensory processing" level.
Latent inhibition works at the "conceptual" level.

See the difference? One involves ideas and the other involves the senses.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:30 am

swbluto wrote:
How does sensory overload involve "associative learning"? It doesn't seem to. One operates at the "sensory processing" level while the other operates at the "associative/conceptual" level.

Also, I think the "filter out" idea as involved with sensory overload doesn't apply to associate learning because associative learning is about generating conceptual connections, which really isn't a matter of "filtering", per se, it's more like a process of branching.


The wiki page mentions sensory overload as being a consequence of a low latent inhibition. It also says that for more intelligent people, it manifests as creativity, and fairly creative.

I can't make enough sense of this theory to suggest anything about how it might apply to autism.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:36 am

Verdandi wrote:
swbluto wrote:
How does sensory overload involve "associative learning"? It doesn't seem to. One operates at the "sensory processing" level while the other operates at the "associative/conceptual" level.

Also, I think the "filter out" idea as involved with sensory overload doesn't apply to associate learning because associative learning is about generating conceptual connections, which really isn't a matter of "filtering", per se, it's more like a process of branching.


The wiki page mentions sensory overload as being a consequence of a low latent inhibition. It also says that for more intelligent people, it manifests as creativity, and fairly creative.

I can't make enough sense of this theory to suggest anything about how it might apply to autism.


Oh, well, the wikipedia page is inconsistent and/or incomplete/not-detailed-enough or maybe it's still controversial or maybe I just don't understand it, either, haha. Let's just say that Latent Inhibition is a measure of Associate Learning for the sake of discussion. Or, rather, let's just say we're discussing the conceptual side of it, that is, "associative learning".



Last edited by swbluto on 27 Sep 2011, 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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27 Sep 2011, 12:38 am

from what i read at wikipedia, it's a new name for an old concept and it has to do with how forcefully a stimulus affects you. do you need thrills like sky-diving to feel alive or does a beautiful painitng move you to tears? i don't need a complicated test to tell me i'm closer to the latter. i don't like to be beat over the head with things. i get the idea from a few understated words.

if asperger's and schizophrenia are opposite on latent inhibition scales, how come so many people have both?



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27 Sep 2011, 12:41 am

cathylynn wrote:
if asperger's and schizophrenia are opposite on latent inhibition scales, how come so many people have both?

Incompetent diagnosticians? The DSM-IV explicitly makes them mutually exclusive.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:46 am

ha ha, swbluto.



cathylynn
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27 Sep 2011, 12:51 am

i know someone who has had asperger's since they were born. the asperger's didn't suddenly transform into something else when they developed schizophrenia at age 30.



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27 Sep 2011, 12:56 am

webMD's description of asperger's says that children with asperger's are more likely to develop disorders such as depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia.