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Relation between social functioning and neurocognitive test results using the Optional Thinking Test in schizophrenia
Author(s) -
CHINO BUN,
MIZUNO MASAFUMI,
NEMOTO TAKAHIRO,
YAMASHITA CHIYO,
KASHIMA HARUO
Publication year - 2006
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.1440-1819.2006.01461.x
Subject(s) - neurocognitive , psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , verbal fluency test , global assessment of functioning , test (biology) , fluency , positive and negative syndrome scale , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , neuropsychology , psychiatry , psychosis , cognition , paleontology , mathematics education , biology
Abstract The current study investigated the relationship between clinical evaluations of social functioning and neurocognitive test results, including various fluency tests for assessing divergent thinking, in patients with schizophrenia. The Optional Thinking Test (OTT) was used to measure the ability of individuals to conceive of alternatives. This test assesses alternative thinking, or the capacity to generate solutions to problems. The current study examined 36 schizophrenia patients and 25 normal subjects using the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Letter Cancellation Test (LCT), the Letter and Category Fluency Tests, and the OTT for neurocognitive assessment, as well as the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), the Social Functioning Scale (SFS), and the Life Assessment Scale for the Mentally Ill – Interpersonal Relations (LASMI‐I) for clinical measures. The schizophrenia patients had significantly poorer performances on the MMSE, RAVLT, LCT (time), fluency tests, and OTT than the controls. In the OTT, the proportions of classified strategies were indistinguishable between the schizophrenia patients and the controls. Alternative thinking, as measured by the OTT, was correlated with verbal fluency and attention but was not correlated with the social functioning scores (GAF, SFS, LASMI‐I), whereas the Means‐Ends Problem‐Solving was correlated with the GAF in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia could conceive of the same categories of alternatives as healthy people, but could not conceive as many alternatives.