Inhibitory tagging in inhibition of return is affected in schizophrenia: evidence from the stroop task

L. J. Fuentes, A. B. Vivas, and G. W. Humphreys (1999b) showed that stimulus processing is affected when stimuli are presented to locations subject to inhibition of return. They argued that activated representations of stimuli presented at inhibited locations are disconnected from their associated responses through an "inhibitory tagging" mechanism occurring in inhibition of return. In the present research, the authors asked whether such a mechanism is affected in people with schizophrenia. Healthy adults and patients with schizophrenia performed a Stroop task in an inhibition of return paradigm. Healthy adults showed a reduction in the Stroop interference when stimuli were presented at inhibited locations, a result that agrees with the inhibitory tagging mechanism hypothesis and replicates previous findings. However, patients with schizophrenia did not show such a reduction, a result suggesting that they have a deficit in inhibitory processing occurring in inhibition of return.