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Schizophrenic Performance on a Reaction‐Time Task with increasing Levels of Complexity
Author(s) -
COURT J. H.,
GARWOLI E.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1968.tb00561.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , paranoid schizophrenia , cognitive psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychosis , psychiatry , computer science , management , economics , programming language
An experiment was conducted involving varying complexities of reaction‐time (RT) task. A group of twenty‐four thought‐disordered schizophrenics was carefully matched with normals for age and sex. It was found that with increasing task‐complexity the level of schizophrenic performance deteriorated linearly rather than exponentially. Attention was paid to the paranoid/non‐paranoid dichotomy and the influence of medication. Interpretation is in accord with Yates' theory that complexity of information input does not produce a greater deficit among schizophrenics, unless presented under conditions where there is continuous pressure to respond.