Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:54:08.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chronic Schizophrenic Disorder

II. Reaction Time, Social Performance and Arousal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

C. White ,
J. Farley  and
P. Charles
C. White*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
J. Farley
Affiliation:
Fairfield Hospital, Hitchin, Herts
P. Charles
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
*
∗Department of Psychiatry, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Reaction time, set index, critical flicker frequency, two-flash threshold, a sustained performance task and psychophysiological parameters from people with chronic schizophrenic disorder (n = 14) and a control group (n = 12) were analysed to assess the association between arousal, attentional dysfunction and social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Shorter reaction time, rated ability to mime and, in the schizophrenic group, scores on Venable's ward activity scale correlated with each other. In the schizophrenic group, prolonged reaction time latency correlated positively with skin conductance level in the right hand and negatively with skin conductance variability in the left hand, the latter being in the opposite direction to that for the control group. The results may provide support for the hypothesis that lateralised cerebral dysfunction is associated with performance deficits in people with chronic schizophrenic symptoms.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 150 , Issue 3 , March 1987 , pp. 374 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cicchetti, D. V. (1976) Assessing inter-rater reliability for rating scales: resolving some bask issues. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 452–456.Google Scholar
Ciompi, L. (1980) The natural history of schizophrenia in the long term. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 413–420.Google Scholar
Crider, A. & Lunn, R. (1971) Electrodermal lability as a personality dimension. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 5, 145–150.Google Scholar
Depue, R. A. & Fowles, D. C. (1973) Electrodermal activity as an index of arousal in schizophrenics. Psychological Bulletin, 79, 233–238.Google Scholar
Farley, J. D. (1976) Phylogenetic adaptations and the genetics of psychosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 53, 173–192.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1974) Two-flash threshold, sensitivity and beta in normal subjects and schizophrenics. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 26, 594–684.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruzelier, J. H. & Flor-Henry, P. (1979) Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Manchanda, R. (1982) The syndrome of schizophrenia: relations between electrodermal response, lateral asymmetries and clinical ratings. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 488–495.Google Scholar
Hawk, A. P., Carpenter, W. T. & Strauss, J. S. (1975) Diagnostic criteria and 5-year outcome in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 343–347.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C, Frith, C. D., Gold, A. & Stevens, A. (1979) The outcome of severe acute schizophrenic illness after one year. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 28–33.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E., Brockington, I. F. & Leff, J. P. (1979) Prognostic implications of six alternative definitions of schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 25–31.Google Scholar
Kokes, R. F., Strauss, J. S. & Klorman, R. (1977) Premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 3, 99–106.Google Scholar
Kornetsky, C. (1972) The use of a simple test of attention as a measure of drug effects in schizophrenic patients. Psycho-pharmacologia, 24, 99–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krawiecka, M., Goldberg, D. & Vaughan, M. (1977) A standardised psychiatric assessment scale for rating chronic psychotic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 55, 299–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nuechterlein, K. H. (1977) Reaction time and attention in schizophrenia: A critical evaluation of the data and theories. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 3, 373–428.Google Scholar
Rodnick, E. & Shakow, D. (1940) Set in the schizophrenic as measured by a composite reaction time index. American Journal of Psychiatry, 97, 214–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D., Lawlor, W. G., Zahn, T. P. & Shakow, D. (1960) The relationship of some aspects of mental set to degree of schizophrenic disorganisation. Journal of Personality, 28, 26–34.Google Scholar
Shakow, D. (1962) Segmental set: a theory of the formal psychological deficit in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 6, 1–17.Google Scholar
Steffy, R. A. (1977) Issues in the study of schizophrenic reaction time: a review of the K. H. Nuechterlein paper. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 3, 445–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, J. H. (1978) Long-term prognosis and follow-up in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 4, 25–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, J. S. & Carpenter, W. T. (1977) Prediction of outcome in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 159–163.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. M. & Creelman, C. D. (1967) PEST: efficient estimates of probability functions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 41, 782–787.Google Scholar
Vaillant, G. E. (1978) A 10-year follow-up of remitting schizophrenics. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 4, 78–85.Google Scholar
Venables, P. H. (1957) A short rating scale for “activitywithdrawal” in schizophrenics. Journal of Mental Science, 103, 197–199.Google Scholar
White, C. de B., Farley, J. & Charles, I. P. (1987) Chronic schizophrenic disorder. I. Psychophysiological responses, laterality and social stress. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 365–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yates, A. J. (1973) Abnormalities of psychomotor functions. In Handbook of Abnormal Psychology (ed. H. J. Eysenck) London: Pitman.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.