Temporal precision and accuracy in schizophrenia: an exploratory study

Time perception abnormalities have long been described in schizophrenia, yet the precise nature of these deficits remains unclear. Most studies have examined temporal accuracy or precision in isolation, and few have included clinically stable outpatient samples or systematically accounted for antipsychotic medication effects. This study examined temporal accuracy, trial-to-trial precision, and within-session adjustment in 45 clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia and 44 matched healthy controls using both retrospective and prospective verbal time estimation paradigms across three interval durations (2, 7, and 15 s). No significant group differences were found in temporal accuracy or precision after correction for multiple comparisons, and within-session adjustment did not differ between groups at any interval. Although coefficient of variation values were numerically higher in patients at the shorter intervals, these differences did not survive Bonferroni correction and should be considered preliminary. Exploratory analyses did not detect statistically significant associations between timing measures and antipsychotic dose, medication type, symptom severity, or illness duration. These findings suggest that overt behavioural timing abnormalities were not clearly demonstrated under the present task conditions in clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia. Given the exploratory design, limited trial number, and modest sample size, the absence of robust group differences should be interpreted as inconclusive rather than as evidence of preserved temporal processing.