Attentional Vulnerability Indicators, Thought Disorder, and Negative Symptoms

Abstract

Deficits on two continuous performance test versions and the forced-choice span of apprehension task, which are potential vulnerability factors for schizophrenic disorders, were examined in relationship to particular symptoms of schizophrenic disorders, with emphasis on hypothesized relationships to formal thought disorder and negative symptoms. These interrelationships were determined concurrently within a group of 40 schizophrenic patients at an inpatient point. In addition, 32 of these patients were retested at a stabilized outpatient point to address the extent to which continued attentional deficits were associated with specific symptomatology during the hospitalized period. Signal-discrimination deficits on the three tasks were consistently associated with inpatient negative symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by the Anergia factor of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), across both the inpatient and outpatient assessments. The outpatient signal-discrimination deficits also showed significant, but less consistent, correlations with inpatient schizophrenic modes of thinking measured by the Rorschach Thought Disorder Index and with formal thought disorder measured by the BPRS Conceptual Disorganization rating. In contrast, no relationship with inpatient hallucinations or delusions was found. Combined with previous findings from high-risk samples, these results are consistent with the view that signal-discrimination deficits in situations demanding high levels of effortful processing are enduring vulnerability factors for schizophrenic negative symptoms and possibly for certain schizophrenic forms of thought disorder.

Neurocognitive and social cognitive correlates of formal thought disorder in schizophrenia patients

“…(3-7 CPT) (Nuechterlein et al, 1986). This refinement of the original A-X CPT (Rosvold et al, 1956) measures focused, sustained attention under immediate memory load conditions.…”

“…This pattern of findings suggests that formal thought disorder reflects, in part, state-like exacerbations in illness but also might be associated with more stable underlying neurocognitive impairments. This conclusion is supported by longitudinal studies that have found the relationship between thought disorder and discrete neurocognitive deficits to be stronger during periods of stabilization than during acute episodes (Asarnow and MacCrimmon, 1982;Nuechterlein et al, 1986;Pandurangi et al, 1994). Neuropsychologists and experimental psychopathologists have frequently assessed the quality of thinking using proverb interpretation tasks (Lezak, 1995).…”

“…Formal thought disorder has been found to relate to impairments in attention (Docherty and Gordinier, 1999;Harvey et al, 1998;Moser et al, 2001;Nuechterlein et al, 1986;Silverstein et al, 1991;Sowell et al, 2000), memory (Harvey et al, 1998;Nestor et al, 1998;Serper et al, 1990), and executive functions (Barrera et al, 2005;Nestor et al, 1998). However, few studies have examined multiple neurocognitive domains as correlates of formal thought disorder within the same sample.…”

The structure of schizotypy: relationships between neurocognitive and personality disorder features in relatives of schizophrenic patients in the UCLA Family Study

“…Blurring (degradation) of stimuli enhances the role of early perceptual encoding in performance. Details of stimulus characteristics and projector equipment were given in Nuechterlein et al (1986). The signal/noise discrimination index, d 0 , from signal detection theory was the dependent variable.…”

“…The partial-report, forced-choice format limits the role of short-term memory and enhances the role of early encoding and search processes. Stimulus characteristics and projector equipment for this version were described in Nuechterlein et al (1986). The accuracy of target detection in 10-letter arrays was the dependent variable.…”