A novel set-shifting modification of the iowa gambling task: flexible emotion-based learning in schizophrenia

Although it might seem that people with schizophrenia would perform poorly on measures of emotion-based learning, several studies have shown normal levels of performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; C. E. Y. Evans, C. H. Bowman, & O. H. Turnbull, 2005; L. M. Ritter, J. H. Meador-Woodruff, & G. W. Dalack, 2004; B. Shurman, W. P. Horan, & K. H. Nuechterlein, 2005; K. E. Wilder, D. R. Weinberger, & T. E. Goldberg, 1998). The present article describes a newly developed modification of the IGT involving initial familiarization with the basic contingency pattern then 3 periods of contingency shift. Control participants showed substantial gains during the later trials of each shift period. Analyzed in terms of positive symptoms, those with schizophrenia were little different from control participants. Those high in negative symptoms could perform the basic task but showed remarkably poor performances (no better than chance) in the shift phases, retaining a preference for decks that had previously been "good," even when they experienced substantial losses.