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Attention disorders in schizophrenia
Author(s) -
SUWA HIROSHI,
MATSUSHIMA EISUKE,
OHTA KATSUYA,
MORI KATSUMI
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2004.01227.x
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , disinhibition , cognitive psychology , index (typography) , psychiatry , audiology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , computer science , world wide web
Abstract In order to clarify the feature of attention disorders in schizophrenia, two tasks (X and AX) of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) were given to 36 schizophrenic patients and 25 healthy controls. The schizophrenic patients performed considerably less well than normal controls. Performances were expressed in indices such as omission and commission errors, reaction time and discriminability. Among errors, omission in both the X and AX tasks was found to be an index that varied in reaction time, indicating difficulty in sustaining attention. Omission was found to act as a state‐dependent index of schizophrenia in relation to inattentiveness in clinical settings and emotional disturbance in interpersonal situations. Commission, in contrast, differed between the two tasks, acting as an index of disinhibition of reaction in the X task, and of disturbance of the capacity and allocation of attention in the AX task. Commission was also thought to be an index related to thought disorder during episodes of acute schizophrenia, that is, it reflects an essential pathology in schizophrenia.