Further Experimental Studies of Mental Patients Through the Autokinetic Phenomenon

This study aimed at replicating an earlier one that demonstrated a relationship between autokinesis—the apparent motion of a pinpoint of light in a dark room—and the major psychiatric syndromes. Data collected on 1,402 psychiatric inpatients revealed statistically significant differences between the autokinetic scores of the patients and a normal population, and among the major syndromes. The findings once again implicate central personality variables as the basis for individual autokinetic test differences and demonstrate the diagnostic value of autokinesis.