Positive and negative spatial priming in schizophrenia.
Priming tasks are used for investigating the deficits of selective attention in schizophrenia, which are thought to be related to the psychotic symptoms. Priming was assessed in acutely psychotic unmedicated (n = 22) and medicated (n = 36) schizophrenia patients and in control subjects (n = 42). The subjects had to indicate the location of a target stimulus in two consecutive stimulus displays (prime and probe). Each stimulus appeared together with a distractor on a screen. Negative Priming is characterized by an increase in reaction time, whenever a probe target is presented at a prime distractor location. Positive Priming is characterized by a decrease in reaction time, when the probe target is presented at the prime target location. Schizophrenia patients altogether showed no abnormalities in priming effects, neither in the acute phase of illness (medicated and unmedicated) nor in partial remission (one month later, medicated). In unmedicated patients however Negative Priming was inversely correlated with the severity of positive symptoms. This indicates a priming deficit in a small subgroup of severely ill patients. The data support the notion that automatic (implicit) mechanisms of learning are unimpaired in schizophrenia patients unless symptoms exceed a certain critical level.
Zimmermann
Mark
M
Department of Clinical and Physiological Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany. Mark.Zimmermann@psychol.uni-giessen.de
Stark
Rudolf
R
Kern
Georg
G
Laiacker
Manuela
M
Kirsch
Peter
P
Vaitl
Dieter
D
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents