An analysis of the cognitive deficit of schizophrenia based on the Piaget developmental theory

The objective of the study was to evaluate from the perspective of the Piaget developmental model the cognitive functioning of a sample of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Fifty patients with schizophrenia (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) and 40 healthy matched controls were evaluated by means of the Longeot Logical Thought Evaluation Scale.

Only 6% of the subjects with schizophrenia reached the "formal period," and 70% remained at the "concrete operations" stage. The corresponding figures for the control sample were 25% and 15%, respectively. These differences were statistically significant. The samples were specifically differentiable on the permutation, probabilities, and pendulum tests of the scale.

The Longeot Logical Thought Evaluation Scale can discriminate between subjects with schizophrenia and healthy controls.