Open AccessPredicting Attention-Shaping Response in People With Schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Danielle M. Beaudette,
James M. Gold,
James A. Waltz,
Judy Thompson,
Lindsay Cherneski,
Victoria Martin,
Brian Monteiro,
Lisa N. Cruz,
Steven M. Silverstein
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the journal of nervous and mental disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.749
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1539-736X
pISSN - 0022-3018
DOI - 10.1097/nmd.0000000000001286
Subject(s) - psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , reinforcement , intervention (counseling) , psychological intervention , cognitive psychology , population , reinforcement learning , ceiling effect , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , psychiatry , computer science , alternative medicine , environmental health , pathology , artificial intelligence
People with schizophrenia often experience attentional impairments that hinder learning during psychological interventions. Attention shaping is a behavioral technique that improves attentiveness in this population. Because reinforcement learning (RL) is thought to be the mechanism by which attention shaping operates, we investigated if preshaping RL performance predicted level of response to attention shaping in people with schizophrenia. Contrary to hypotheses, a steeper attentiveness growth curve was predicted by less intact pretreatment RL ability and lower baseline attentiveness, accounting for 59% of the variance. Moreover, baseline attentiveness accounted for over 13 times more variance in response to attention shaping than did RL ability. Results suggest attention shaping is most effective for lower-functioning patients, and those high in RL ability may already be close to ceiling in terms of their response to reinforcers. Attention shaping may not be a primarily RL-driven intervention, and other mechanisms of its effects should be considered.