title: A random process model of cognitive deficit in schizophrenia.
abstract: It is argued that in schizophrenic patients the process of selecting responses to incoming stimuli becomes increasingly random the more disturbed the patient is. This is seen as a disordered overextension of normal behavioral flexibility and variability. A model is proposed which considers the range of human behavior to be the result of perceptions of incoming stimuli compared to related analogs retrieved from memory. In the schizophrenic individual, the range of memory elements likely to be elicited by an input becomes abnormally large so that in the severely disturbed patient, behavior approaches randomness. The model is discussed in light of current thinking about schizophrenia, and data are presented in support of the new approach.
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D003405:Creativity; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011336:Probability; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology