INFORMATION-PROCESSING DEFICITS IN REMITTED SCHIZOPHRENICS

This study investigated early stages of information processing in schizophrenia as assessed by a backward-masking paradigm. Ten remitted process schizophrenics and 10 matched normal controls were tested. Subjects were matched for both age and intelligence. All schizophrenics met the criteria of an early onset, poor premorbid adjustment, evidence of formal thought disorder (e.g., language disturbance) and had previously exhibited hallucinations or delusions. Stimuli were tachistoscopically exposed under two masking conditions, two stimulus durations, and five masking latencies (stimulus onset asynchronies) over four 200-trial sessions, for a total of 800 trials. A two-alternative forced-choice recognition of a T or A served as the dependent measure. Results indicated that whereas schizophrenics were more impaired than normals under both masking conditions, they were particularly impaired under the pattern mask condition. These results add support to the growing evidence of an early information processing disturbance in schizophrenia that is trait dependent and is not an artifact of nonspecific pathological disturbance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.