ABSTRACT

Depressant drugs definitely cut down the length of after effects, and there is some evidence that the amount of decrement is negatively correlated with extraversion; this too line with expectation. Large amounts of stimulant drugs, by pushing the individual on to the descending branch of the inverse-U, would have decremental effects, although this effect would be very dependent on the precise shape of the regression obtaining between arousal and performance. Even though physiological and pharmacological evidence may pinpoint the effects of a certain drug in affecting the reticular formation, and through it the arousal state of the cortex, many problems clearly remain. The inclusion of neurotic depressions raises the old problem of whether neurotic patients can in fact be regarded as fundamentally different from psychotic depressions. Claridge’s view about the importance of taking into account neuroticism as well as extraversion in relating personality and sedation thresholds is borne out strikingly in a study by E. Rodnight and R. N. Gooch.