Previous studies on projective techniques have investigated the effects of variation in stimulus features on individuals’ response behavior. In particular, the influence of chromatic colors and form definition on the images elicited by the stimuli has been tested. Most studies have focused on the Rorschach and TAT and have examined effects in terms of variables such as reality testing and reactions to perceptual details. This is the first study to examine the effects of variation in visual stimuli as represented in features of the Object Relations Technique (ORT) cards on linguistic indicators of connection to emotional experience using measures of the referential process. The ORT was administered to 207 Italian non-clinical participants to explore effects of color, form and content variation on language style. The sample was stratified by age, gender, marital status and education to be representative of the Italian population. The stories told in response to the card images were rated using computerized linguistic measures, including the Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary—Italian version (IWRAD) which indicates the degree to which language is connected to nonverbal experience, and the Weighted Reflection/Reorganization List—Italian version (IWRRL) which detects a linguistic style of personal re-elaboration of emotional experience. The results provide support for the color-affect and form-reality testing hypotheses. Cards with better form definition, including color definition, and with fewer silhouettes of people elicited responses that were higher in IWRAD and lower in IWRRL, and also higher in the degree to which the two measures varied together. Implications of the results for use of ORT in clinical assessment and intervention are discussed.

先前关于投射技术的研究调查了刺激特征变化对个体反应行为的影响。特别是，已经测试了彩色和形状定义对刺激引起的图像的影响。大多数研究都集中在罗夏墨迹测验和 TAT 上，并检查了变量方面的影响，例如现实测试和对感知细节的反应。这是第一项使用参照过程的测量来检查视觉刺激变化的影响的研究，如对象关系技术 (ORT) 卡的特征所表示的那样，对与情感体验联系的语言指标的影响。ORT 对 207 名意大利非临床参与者进行了管理，以探索颜色、形式和内容变化对语言风格的影响。样本按年龄分层，性别、婚姻状况和教育以代表意大利人口。根据卡片图像讲述的故事使用计算机化语言措施进行评级，包括加权参考活动词典 - 意大利语版本（IWRAD），它表明语言与非语言体验的联系程度，以及加权反思/重组列表 - 意大利语版本（IWRRL）检测个人重新阐述情感体验的语言风格。结果为颜色影响和形式现实测试假设提供了支持。具有更好形状清晰度（包括颜色清晰度）且人物轮廓较少的卡片在 IWRAD 中引起的反应较高，在 IWRRL 中引起的反应较低，并且两种测量值的共同变化程度也较高。