Iconic imagery in overinclusive and nonoverinclusive schizophrenics.

R. A. Knight et al (1977) found a significant relation among schizophrenics between good picture-recognition memory and R. W. Payne's index of overinclusion as measured by the Object Classification Test (OCT). The present experiment addressed the problem of what specific stages in information processing might be involved in the differences among schizophrenics in visual memory. It investigated iconic imagery in schizophrenia, using a modification of G. Sperling's paradigm with 41 males in a psychiatric ward of VA Hospital. Ss were divided into 3 groups of schizophrenics (overinclusives, middle inclusives, and underinclusives) and a nonpsychotic control group on the basis of their OCT responses. Results show that the overinclusive schizophrenics and nonpsychotics had an adequate iconic store—they performed better in partial report than in full report, and information in the partial report decayed rapidly. The middle-inclusive and underinclusive schizophrenics, however, were significantly inferior in using this first visual process—their partial-report information decay was found. Findings are discussed in relation to the several theories of schizophrenics' cognitive deficit. (1? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)