PROBLEM
ch. 11) presented and contrasted four theories of regression including Werner's (11) comparative-developmental approach. BUSS'S evaluation was that the strongest support for Werner's theory appeared in the area of perception and referred mainly to research(5' 6 v ') employing the Rorschach Test.
I n recent years, more objective means have been used by Werner, Wapner, and their colleagues (*, 9 , to assess perceptual regression. These studies had their origin in the coalescence of Werner's 12) concept of development and the Sensory-Tonic theory(13-14) of perception. I n their early monograph study on perceptual development, Wapner and Werner ( l o ) employed a number of experimental situations, one of which, pertinent to the present paper, concerns the perception of verticality. Two significant developmental trends in the perception of verticality were found with Ss ranging in age from 6 to 20 years. One is the effect of body tilt: within the younger age levels, a luminescent rod in a darkroom is perceived as vertical when tilted t o the side at which the body is tilted, in contrast to older age levels where it is perceived as vertical when tilted opposite the side of body tilt. The second effect is that of "starting position", i.e., the rotation of the apparent vertical t o the side at which the rod is placed at the beginning of a trial; this effect is greatest for the youngest age levels and decreases with increase in age. The results were interpreted as being consonant with the general developmental principle that with increase in age there is increasing differentiation of self and object. Specifically, it was assumed that this lack of differentiation a t the early age levels is manifested in two ways: (1) by "egocentricity", ie., determination of the object world through the self (body) as referent, as evidenced by the effect of body tilt; and (2) by "stimulus boundedness", i.e., inordinate impact of initially presented stimuli, as evidenced by the effect of starting position.
I n terms of a regression hypothesis, the formal characteristic of undifferentiatedness would be a common feature of the perceptual behavior of schizophrenics and