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Speed of Response and Associative Errors in Schizophrenia
Author(s) -
HEMSLEY DAVID R.,
HAWKS DAVID V.
Publication year - 1974
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.2044-8260.1974.tb00122.x
Subject(s) - associative property , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , associative learning , audiology , sorting , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , medicine , computer science , mathematics , pure mathematics , programming language
Two groups of schizophrenics, acutes and chronics, were administered a card‐sorting test giving a measure of associative errors; measures of retardation and psychiatric ratings were also obtained. By manipulating response speed it was possible to change the number of associative errors made by both groups. The number of associative errors made in the unpaced condition was unrelated to measures of retardation for the group as a whole. However, when age and intelligence were covaried out there was a significant negative correlation between the number of associative errors and the time taken to complete the sorting task. Differences between the acute and chronic groups seemed largely explicable in terms of differing age and intelligence. Retesting most of the acute patients after three months indicated considerable stability in the number of associative errors made. The results are discussed in terms of a two stage model of schizophrenia, an initial psychological deficit and a secondary adaptation to this hypothesized deficit, leading to retardation.