title: Numerical distance effect in patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: There is growing evidence showing that mental representation of numbers is impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Yet, no study has examined the distance effect in the patients. We assessed the distance effect using two number size comparison tasks, with different number references (5 and 7) in 23 patients and 28 healthy individuals. Response times and error rates significantly increased when the distances between the centered references and the targets decreased in both groups. However, patients responded significantly slower and had more error rates compared to controls. Our finding indicates distance effect in patients is similar to the controls, indicating an automatic numerical processing is preserved in patients with schizophrenia.
authors: Neuroscience Research Centre, Institute of Neuropharmacology Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Ali Mohammad
authors: AM
authors: Pourrahimi
authors: Neuroscience Research Centre, Institute of Neuropharmacology Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Electronic address: smazhari@kmu.ac.ir.
authors: Shahrzad
authors: S
authors: Mazhari
authors: Neuroscience Research Centre, Institute of Neuropharmacology Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Shabani
authors: Neuroscience Research Centre, Institute of Neuropharmacology Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran; Faculty of Physical Education & Sport Science, Tehran University, Iran.
authors: Yousef Moghadas
authors: YM
authors: Tabrizi
authors: Neuroscience Research Centre, Institute of Neuropharmacology Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors: Vahid
authors: V
authors: Sheibani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
keywords: Distance effect; Number comparison; Schizophrenia