Effects of reinforcement, proximity, and orientation on verbal behavior of female schizophrenics

Evaluated effects of reinforcement, proximity, and orientation on verbal behavior of female schizophrenics. Sixty-four inpatient state hospital volunteers (36 schizophrenics and 33 hospitalized controls) either were reinforced verbally or nonreinforced for construction of appropriate sentences. Also, participants were exposed to near or far proximity as well as direct or indirect orientation. Results indicated that schizophrenics performed best in the indirect orientation condition. While no differential group effects were seen across diagnosis, participants on the average responded more effectively when reinforced. These findings are contradictory to those reported in earlier studies of verbal conditioning in schizophrenics. Discussed were the detrimental effects of attentional demands on verbal conditioning in schizophrenics and the effectiveness of verbal reinforcement across hospitalized patients.