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Summary The relationship between rationalistic and intuitionistic styles of information processing and handedness was studied in 98 Ss who were asked to view videotapes of medical interns gambling and to determine solely on the basis of facial cues the amount of the payoff offered to each intern during a specific gambling trial. Two groups on the basis of the Ss' interpreting styles were defined: rationalistic Ss indicated that they used a systematic method to make the responses, intuitionistic Ss could not describe the rationale which they used to make their responses. No relationship was found between handedness and processing style or sex and processing style. Since handedness and processing style have been thought to be related to hemispheric dominance, this lack of relationship may suggest that hemispheric localization is not a highly specialized function.

Summary Interpretation of nonverbal facial cues was studied in two groups of male and female medical students, health-professionals, and undergraduates (N = 122). All Ss were asked to view videotapes of other students engaged in a learning task and to determine solely on the basis of facial clues the amount of monetary reward offered to a videotaped student during a specific learning trial. On the basis of the Ss interpreting styles, two groups were defined: (a) “Intellectuals” indicated that they used systematic trial-and-error methods to make their interpretations. Intellectuals needed several seconds to make a response and responded with greater accuracy under reinforced conditions. (b) “Intuitives” could not describe the rationale employed to make response choices. They responded instantaneously and more accurately under nonreinforced conditions. Both intuitive and intellectual groups were comprised of nearly equal numbers of male and female Ss. Overall accuracy was found to be independent of sex.

The authors present different antidotal strategies in treating phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication based upon specific symptomatic presentation. Evidence exists for dopaminergic, cholinergic and opiate-like activity of PCP in both laboratory and clinical studies. Reviewing these studies, clinical interventions are recommended according to various symptom clusters.

Phencyclidine (PCP) is a widely abused drug inducing a psychosis relieved by such dopamine antagonists as the neuroleptics. In the current study we compared two neuroleptics which act at different dopamine receptor sites. Haloperidol, a DA-2 receptor antagonist, and chlorpromazine, a DA-1 antagonist, were used to treat a total of 20 patients who experienced a phencyclidine psychosis. Ten patients each received two doses of one or the other neuroleptic on an alternating basis. Haloperidol 5 mg i.m. was shown to be superior to chlorpromazine 50 mg i.m. in relieving all signs of psychosis. The authors hypothesize that the DA-2 receptor is site-specific for PCP.

An open field trial was conducted comparing desipramine and an active placebo in separate populations of chronic cocaine and phencyclidine (PCP) abusers, who discontinued their abuse. Subjects who received desipramine showed a decrease in depressive symptoms after a 20-40 day period regardless of whether they abused PCP or cocaine.