Cognitive processing of contradictory statements: an experimental study of reasoning on proverbs in schizophrenia.
Twenty schizophrenic patients and 20 normal subjects matched for age, sex and verbal level were asked to identify, from a list of alternatives, the statement that was the most contradictory to each of 8 proverbs. Schizophrenics (whether severely disturbed or not) were found to be less accurate in detecting the contradictions [F(1,18) = 29.21; p less than 0.0001]. No significant differences between undifferentiated and disorganized DSM-III subtypes were observed. The greatest tolerance of contradictory statements was interpreted in terms of violation of the 'no contradiction principle' and examined in the light of a deficit in logical abilities.
de Bonis
M
M
Service Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie, Hôpital de Bicêtre, Université Paris XI-CNRS, France.
Epelbaum
C
C
Féline
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001045:Aphorisms and Proverbs as Topic; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008128:Logic; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012564:Schizophrenic Language; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D013850:Thinking