Evaluation of information sequential aspects of schizophrenic performance. II. Research strategies and methodological...

This presentation deals with research issues surrounding the investigation of schizophrenic performance from the perspective of the experimental psychology of normal cognition. Topics of subject selection, influence of medication on subjects' performance, appropriateness of underlying models of performance developed with normal samples, and nonuniform measurement properties of dependent variables are dealt with. Relevant items of rationale for this branch of study are put forth and evaluated. Finally, the notion of critical deficit--whereby the importance of deterioration in a component of performance is judged according to the component's role in negotiating environmental demands (rather than the component's absolute magnitude of deterioration)--is detailed and exemplified.