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Interhemispheric transfer in major psychoses
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
|April 1, 1986
Summary
This study found no specific interhemispheric transfer deficit in schizophrenia patients. Cognitive performance was not linked to age, illness onset, or medication, suggesting other neurological factors may be involved.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Interhemispheric information transfer is crucial for cognitive function.
- Schizophrenia and affective disorders are complex psychiatric conditions with potential neurological underpinnings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate interhemispheric information transfer in male patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders.
- To determine if deficits in interhemispheric transfer are specific to schizophrenia.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Tactual Performance Test (TPT), a stereognosis task, and an anomia task.
- Assessed 25 schizophrenic and 21 affectively ill, right-handed male patients.
- Analyzed performance errors and block identification accuracy.
Main Results:
- Both groups exhibited TPT performance difficulties, but deficits did not differ significantly between diagnostic groups.
- Schizophrenic patients made more naming and preferred-hand errors on the TPT.
- Affectively ill patients showed better block identification with their preferred hand compared to schizophrenic patients.
Conclusions:
- The findings do not support a schizophrenia-specific interhemisphere transfer deficit.
- Results are consistent with a general interhemisphere transfer deficit in psychoses or a left/bilateral hemisphere impairment in schizophrenia.