title: Jumping to conclusions in psychosis: a faulty appraisal.
abstract: Schizophrenia patients, particularly those with current delusions, show a cognitive bias known as jumping to conclusions, defined as a decision made quickly on the basis of little evidence. The aim of this work was to examine the underlying mechanisms of this cognitive bias by means of the Picture To Decision Task, which allows one to analyse the effect of the context on decisions made. We compared the performance of this task by 42 psychotic patients, 21 siblings of these patients and 77 controls. The results of the current study suggest that, relative to siblings and controls, patients display a general tendency to jump to conclusions, characterised by overestimating the conviction in their choices at the beginning of the decision process and by a lowered threshold for making decisions in ambiguous contexts, where a greater amount of information is required. These results are interpreted in terms of faulty appraisal, which would be the first mechanism responsible for the Jumping To Conclusions bias. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
authors: Developmental Neuropsychiatry Research Unit, Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital Virgen del Rocio de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: José Luis
authors: JL
authors: Rubio
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Ruiz-Veguilla
authors: Laureno
authors: L
authors: Hernández
authors: María Luisa
authors: ML
authors: Barrigón
authors: María Dolores
authors: MD
authors: Salcedo
authors: Josefa María
authors: JM
authors: Moreno
authors: Emilio
authors: E
authors: Gómez
authors: Steffen
authors: S
authors: Moritz
authors: Maite
authors: M
authors: Ferrín
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D015982:Bias; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult