Specificity of the jump-to-conclusions bias in deluded patients.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the specificity of the 'jump-to-conclusions' (JTC) bias in delusions.


METHODS
Thirty-seven psychotic patients were divided into two separate groupings: (1) deluded versus non-deluded individuals and (2) individuals with and without a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Groups were compared on three reasoning tasks ('Beads' task, Wason's 2-4-6 task, and Wason's selection task).


RESULTS
Deluded participants had a tendency to show a JTC bias on data-gathering tasks, but no differences were found with the schizophrenia diagnosis grouping. There were no differences between any groups on tasks of general reasoning and probability judgments.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that JTC is specific to delusions rather than diagnosis, and to data gathering rather than a general deficit in reasoning.
Peters
Emmanuelle R
ER
Department of Psychology, Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. e.peters@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Thornton
Patricia
P
Siksou
Lea
L
Linney
Yvonne
Y
MacCabe
James H
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003657:Decision Making; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis