A further evaluation of decision-making under risk and under ambiguity in schizophrenia.
Abnormal decision-making has been described as a key-concept to understand some behavioral disturbances in schizophrenia. However, whether schizophrenia patients display impairments in profitable decision-making on experimental designs is still controversial (1) to assess performance on decision-making paradigms under ambiguity and under risk conditions in a large sample of schizophrenia patients and (2) to study the impact of clinical variables on decision-making performance in schizophrenia. The Iowa gambling task (IGT) and the game of dice task (GDT) were administered to assess, respectively, decision-making under ambiguity and under risk in 63 schizophrenia patients and 67 healthy controls. In addition, clinical variables (e.g., schizophrenic symptoms, self-reported depression, and impulsivity) were evaluated using appropriate questionnaires the same day. Pharmacological treatments were reported. Schizophrenia patients had impaired performances on both IGT and GDT tasks. No correlation between the decision-making tasks performance and clinical variables was found. Lower gains on the GDT were associated with executive dysfunctioning in schizophrenia. These findings give evidence that schizophrenia patients display impairments in both decision-making under ambiguity and under risk.
Université Montpellier 1, Montpellier, France. guillaume.fond@gmail.com
Guillaume
G
Fond
Sophie
S
Bayard
Delphine
D
Capdevielle
Jonathan
J
Del-Monte
Nawale
N
Mimoun
Alexandra
A
Macgregor
Jean-Philippe
JP
Boulenger
Marie-Christine
MC
Gely-Nargeot
Stéphane
S
Raffard
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology