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The time course of information-processing deficits in schizophrenia
The American Journal of Psychiatry
|February 1, 1985
Summary
Schizophrenic patients exhibit a specific visual information-processing deficit. This impairment occurs within a precise time window, between 60 and 500 milliseconds, indicating a time-linked dysfunction.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Visual Information Processing
Background:
- Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive deficits.
- The precise temporal characteristics of visual processing dysfunction in schizophrenia are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the time course of visual information processing deficits in schizophrenia.
- To differentiate between specific temporal impairments and generalized cognitive dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a visual backward masking task.
- Employed novel interstimulus intervals (ISIs).
- Compared 19 schizophrenic patients with 15 matched controls.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenic subjects showed an information-processing deficit at ISIs > 60 msec and < 500 msec.
- This deficit was specific to a particular temporal range.
- Findings were compared with evoked-potential and psychophysiological data.
Conclusions:
- The visual processing impairment in schizophrenia is specific and time-linked.
- The deficit is unlikely due to gross psychopathology or medication effects.
- Suggests a distinct temporal processing abnormality in schizophrenia.