title: Hyperfocusing in schizophrenia: Evidence from interactions between working memory and eye movements.
abstract: Recent research suggests that processing resources are focused more narrowly but more intensely in people with schizophrenia (PSZ) than in healthy control subjects (HCS), possibly reflecting local cortical circuit abnormalities. This hyperfocusing hypothesis leads to the counterintuitive prediction that, although PSZ cannot store as much information in working memory as HCS, the working memory representations that are present in PSZ may be more intense than those in HCS. To test this hypothesis, we used a task in which participants make a saccadic eye movement to a peripheral target and avoid a parafoveal nontarget while they are holding a color in working memory. Previous research with this task has shown that the parafoveal nontarget is more distracting when it matches the color being held in working memory. This effect should be enhanced in PSZ if their working memory representations are more intense. Consistent with this prediction, we found that the effect of a match between the distractor color and the memory color was larger in PSZ than in HCS. We also observed evidence that PSZ hyperfocused spatially on the region surrounding the fixation point. These results provide further evidence that some aspects of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia may be a result of a narrower and more intense focusing of processing resources.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Luck
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McClenon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa.
authors.forename: Valerie M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hollingworth
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Carly J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Benjamin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gold
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
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