Time Estimation and the Nosology of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Time judgments of various kinds are often disturbed in schizophrenia, but a review of the literature (Orme, 1962) suggests the disturbance is not characteristic in type. The present writer has studied (Orme, 1964) the verbal estimation of an elapsed “filled” interval with various clinical groups. Subjects were asked, after 30 minutes of interviewing, “How long have we been together, how long does it seem to you?” A summary of the distribution of time estimates is given in Table I. The most statistically significant feature (see Orme, 1964 for details) is the contrast between the hysteric, psychopathic and manic groups on the one hand, and the melancholic, anxious and depressed neurotic on the other. Individual variations in estimates appear unrelated to age, sex and intelligence.

Schizophrenia and the Neglect Syndrome: Parietal Contributions to Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia

“…There is a long history of research examining the perception of time in schizophrenia and other psychiatric pathologies [e.g., 105,106]. It is well beyond the scope of this selective review to do justice to this literature, however, a few important points warrant some consideration in the context of the work discussed above implicating right parietal cortex in temporal discriminations.…”

Duration judgements in patients with schizophrenia

“…Indeed, research on time estimation in schizophrenia has a long history (Clausen, 1950;Lhamon & Goldstone, 1956;Webster et al 1962;Lhamon et al 1965 ;Orme, 1966;Carlson & Feinberg, 1968), and there have been numerous reports of impaired temporal comprehension in these patients (Dilling & Rabin, 1967;Johnson & Peztel, 1971 ;Lhamon & Goldstone, 1973;Densen, 1977 ;Wahl & Sieg, 1980 ;Tysk, 1983aTysk, , b, 1984Tysk, , 1990Rammsayer, 1990;Tracy et al 1998; though see Webster et al 1962 ;Goldstone et al 1979 ;Crain et al 1975). Studies have indicated that schizophrenic patients are not simply less accurate in time estimation tasks, but show a particular kind of distortion in timing, in that they tend to overestimate time intervals (Tracy et al 1998 ;Tysk, 1983aTysk, , b, 1984Tysk, , 1990.…”

Psychopathology of Time in Brain Disease and Schizophrenia

“…There are a handful of psychological studies examining the ability of schizophrenics to estimate the passage of time (e.g. Rabin, 1957;Orme, 1966;Wahl and Sieg, 1980), but these were merely designed to establish whether schizophrenics under-or over-estimated the passage of time. Even this question was not decisively answered, as overall the studies provided conflicting results on this issue.…”