Speculating about cognitive experiments using schizophrenics

Several models of selective attention are reviewed, emphasizing how breakdowns in various parts of each model could result in certain attentional deficits. It is concluded that some evidence suggests that the ability to mobilize attention may not be as impaired in schizophrenia as is the ability to choose which stimuli are appropriate for attention. If so, then in any cognitive experiment involving schizophrenics, any schizophrenic subject would be particularly distracted by certain extraneous stimuli, while other schizophrenic subjects would be particularly distracted by other stimuli. The importance of this possibility for cognitive research in schizophrenia is discussed.