Performance of paranoid schizophrenics on a dichotic listening task.

Abstract

Fifteen adult normals and institutionalized paranoid schizophrenics were employed in a dichotic listening task within a 2 (groups) X 2 (associated, • unassociated word list) X 2 (one-second and three-second presentation r^tes) design, with repeated measures on the last two variables. Dependent variables were word recall, intrusion errors, and strategy use and accuracy. Normals recalled significantly more information than paranoid schizophrenics under all memory conditions and had significantly fewer total intrusion errors. For both groups, information recall was significantly better under the associative conditions (particularly associative structure, three-second presentation rate). Under the varying structure conditions, paranoid schizophrenics did not employ optimal strategies with the same frequency or degree of accuracy as normals.

A neurologist looks at “schizophasia”

“…The dichotic listening studies have been taken to indicate that slow information processing and defective filtering are the two most important determinants of the schizophrenics' performance. The conclusions of other experimenters (Friedrich et al 1974, for instance) are similar. A problem in "filtering out" unwanted information was also suggested by Reed (1970) and fits in with findings on overinclusion mentioned earlier.…”

Bridges between schizophrenia and gerontology: Generalized or specific deficits?

“…The elderly (Basowitz & Korchin, 1957) and schizophrenics (Weckowicz, 1960), for example, both have difficulty in identifying concealed figures. Both also have difficulty with dichotic listening tasks (e.g., Friedrich, Emery, & Fuller, 1974;Schonfield, Trueman, & Kline, 1972). Caird (1966) and Inglis and Tansey (1967) both found that the elderly have difficulty with the second but not the first set of stimuli in a dichotic listening experiment.…”

Accounting for linguistic data in schizophrenia research

“…Schizophrenics' auditory selective attention has been studied extensively with dichotic listening tasks in which words or other stimuli are presented to the two ears, and subjects are asked to shadow some of the stimuli while ignoring the rest (Friedrich, Emery & Fuller 1974;Payne, Hochberg & Hawks 1970;Wishner & Wahl 1974). In general, schizophrenics omit more shadowed words and recall fewer of the shadowed words than nonschizophrenic patients or normal individuals.…”