title: Increased distractor vulnerability but preserved vigilance in patients with schizophrenia: evidence from a translational Sustained Attention Task.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Attentional deficits represent a core cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. The distractor condition Sustained Attention Task (dSAT) has been identified by the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) initiative as a promising translational task for assessing schizophrenia-related deficits in attentional selection-control, identifying neuroimaging biomarkers of such deficits, and for preclinical animal research on potential pro-cognitive treatments. Here, we examined whether patients would show specific difficulties in selection-control and in avoiding distraction in the dSAT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Selection-control deficits are measured by comparing attentional performance in the Sustained Attention Task (SAT) without distraction to performance on the task when distraction is present (dSAT). The baseline SAT condition can also be used to assess time-on-task or vigilance effects. Patients with schizophrenia, age- and gender-matched healthy controls and, as an additional control, school-aged children were tested on both the SAT and dSAT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to healthy controls, patients had reduced performance overall and were differentially vulnerable to distraction. In contrast, patients but not children had preserved vigilance over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate specific input-selection control impairments in schizophrenia and suggest that patients' distraction-related impairments can be distinguished from general performance impairments and from deficits in other attentional processes (e.g., sustaining attention) evident in other groups.
authors: Department of Psychology, 530 Church Street, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA.
authors: Elise
authors: E
authors: Demeter
authors: Sally K
authors: SK
authors: Guthrie
authors: Stephan F
authors: SF
authors: Taylor
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Sarter
authors: Cindy
authors: C
authors: Lustig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000379:methods