Span of apprehension deficits in children vulnerable to psychopathology: A failure to replicate.

Tested the findings of R. J. Asarnow et al (see record 1978-05788-001) and D. J. MacCrimmon et al (see record 1981-21451-001) that children vulnerable to psychopathology show performance deficits on the span of apprehension task by examining data from a study by the 2nd and 3rd present authors (1975) that provided a larger sample of high-risk children. Results show that the 34 children (mean age 15.4 yrs) of schizophrenics did not differ from the 54 children (mean age 15.3 yrs) of unipolars, the 52 children (mean age 15.6 yrs) of bipolars, or the 75 children (mean age 15.3 yrs) of normal controls in their span performance. Possible sources of the discrepant results are discussed, and it is suggested that the present findings do not call into question the possibility that some high-risk children show attentional deficits. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)