title: Assessment of attention network efficiency in schizophrenic patients with positive and negative symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to examine the anterior (Experiment 1) and posterior (Experiment 2) attention systems in schizophrenic patients with predominantly negative or positive symptoms, in order to evidence possible differences in symptomatology.
  
  
  METHODS
  The schizophrenic sample was divided into two subgroups: negative(n=13) versus positive symptoms (n=10). The anterior and posterior attention systems in schizophrenic patients were assessed through two experiments: a dual-task paradigm evaluating executive functions, in particular planning and coordination,and a Simon task evaluating automatic shifting of visual attention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study showed specific attention deficits in the presence of negative symptoms. These findings suggest that negative schizophrenics have a deficit that affects functioning of both anterior and posterior attention systems, whereas positive schizophrenics showed a selective deficit only for the posterior attention system, with a pattern that is in the opposite direction compared to that of negative schizophrenics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that specific symptom dimensions or patterns are associated with specific cognitive impairments. Notably, negative schizophrenics exhibited clear abnormalities, whereas positive schizophrenics performed very similarly to healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy. monica.mazza@cc.univaq.it
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tripaldi
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pino
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stama
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valchera
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Serroni
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Berardis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology