Effect of praise and censure on the performance of schizophrenics.

Ss were 36 normals, 36 good, and 36 poor premorbid schizophrenics. Poor premorbids were shown to be primarily motivated to avoid censure and good premorbids to be relatively more sensitive to praise. It was demonstrated that when censure was used on a task with only 2 possible responses, poor premorbids performed better than good premorbids. The opposite relationship was demonstrated for the effects of praise, to which the good premorbids were more responsive. On a task with many responses, the praise or censure gave little information as to the correct response. On this task, censure was demonstrated to be relatively more disruptive to the poor premorbids than praise, but the opposite held for the good premorbids. Comparisons with neutral conditions and normal Ss were also made. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative feedback and aspiration statements of schizophrenics and normals.

Elicited aspiration statements from 30 male schizophrenics and 30 normal adult males in 3 treatment conditions: response-contingent praise, response-contingent censure, and no evaluation. Task "performance scores" were predetermined by E and were identical for all Ss. 2 dependent measures were examined: frequency of increased aspiration statements and magnitude of aspiration changes compared with prior "performance." Response-contingent censure resulted in greater frequency of increased aspiration statements for both diagnostic groups. However, censure differentially effected the magnitude of performance-aspiration differences, with schizophrenics showing greater magnitude of response. Results support previous findings on attitudes of schizophrenics and normals toward success and failure and are congruent with theories of schizophrenic behavior emphasizing development of withdrawal patterns to avoid punishment. It is also indicated that schizophrenics' sensitivity to the aversive may be used constructively. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus generalization among schizophrenics and normal subjects.

Compared schizophrenic and normal groups on a stimulus generalization (SG) task and attempted to explore whether differences in SG among schizophrenics were related to the type of reinforcement applied during acquisition or to diagnostic subtype. 48 chronic poor premorbid schizophrenics and 48 normal controls reached criterion on a size discrimination task under either praise or censure conditions and then were administered an SG task. Schizophrenics showed significantly greater SG than normals, but no differences were found between the praised and censured groups or between paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paired-associate learning by schizophrenic and normal subjects under conditions of personal and impersonal reward and punishment.

This is a report of 2 dissertations done to cross-validate the findings that, contrary to normals, the performance of schizophrenics on various tasks improves under conditions of punishment rather than reward. In addition, these studies tested the effect of personal vs. impersonal conditions of reinforcement. Ss were patients with acute as well as more chronic periods of illness. The results indicate that regardless of whether the reinforcement was administered mechanically (impersonally) or by another individual (personally), the performance of the schizophrenic group again showed improvement under conditions of punishment rather than rewards. The results are related to a theory of the etiology of schizophrenia and to the treatment of schizophrenics. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4JQ22A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of parental childrearing and subsequent vulnerability to cognitive distu bance.

Research with normals and schizophrenics has indicated the importance of maternal childrearing control and nurturance. The 1st experiment tested whether patterns of maternal control and nurturance would relate to the son's subsequent cognitive performance under conditions involving social censure. Ss were 63 college males. Ss rating their mothers as highly controlling-low nurturant (rejecting pattern) were poorer in conceptual performance than Ss whose mothers were rated as low controlling-highly nurturant (accepting pattern). The same results were obtained when 74 males were divided into paternal childrearing pattern groups and their conceptual performance compared. It was proposed that social censure elicits responses which interfere with effective cognitive performance in Ss whose rejecting childrearing histories have mediated low self-esteem. (1 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic discrimination learning as a function of aversive social and physical reinforcement.

60 schizophrenics comparable in important psychopathological variables (e.g., Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Premorbid History-Phillips Prognostic Rating Scale) to Ss in other similar studies were compared on a discrimination learning task with noxious physical reinforcement (intense white noise at 91–94 db) under experimenter (E)-present conditions with motivational instructions and E-absent conditions with neutral instructions. Aversive reinforcement was delivered on a response contingent basis for avoidance and escape training under both social conditions. Long-term effects were evaluated 3 consecutive learning tasks: before, during, and following the 6 reinforcement conditions. Results provide strong confirmation that social factors in the E–S relationship determine the speed of learning throughout. Regardless of physical punishment or the reinforcement paradigm (avoidance or escape), Ss learned significantly faster in the E's presence with motivational instructions both during and after the reinforcement phase. The theoretical implications of what is called biological motivation were found to be insufficient grounds for ordering the data. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of social and nonsocial censure on stimulus generalization in neurotics and schizophrenics.

36 schizophrenic and 36 neurotic depressive Ss were given a visual-spatial generalization task under either social or nonsocial (impersonal) censure conditions. The following hypotheses derived from previous investigations were tested: (1) schizophrenics would show higher gradients of generalization than neurotic depressives, and (2) generalization gradients would be higher under conditions of social as opposed to nonsocial censure, especially in schizophrenics. The data supported Hypothesis 1 but not Hypothesis 2. There was no evidence for differential responding between these 2 groups with respect to either stimulus generalization or response to censure. It was suggested that hypotheses concerning the schizophrenic's performance in these 2 situations have been biased and oversimplified by use of normal, rather than patient, control groups in previous investigations. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies, mood, and performance of depressed and nondepressed psychiatric inpatients on chance and skill tasks.

The learned helplessness model of depression predicts that, compared with nondepressed patients, depressed patients will demonstrate psychomotor deficits, provide lower subjective evaluations of their performance, and perceive reinforcement in skill tasks as more response independent. These predictions were tested in 32 depressed (mean age 35 yrs) and 32 nondepressed (mean age 38 yrs) psychiatric inpatients, who had been administered the Quick Test and the Beck Depression Inventory. Ss performed card- and peg-sorting tasks in which measures of performance, ratings of mood and expectancy of success, and subjective evaluations of performance were obtained under chance and skill reinforcement conditions. Although some support was obtained for the prediction that depressives provide lower evaluations of their performance than nondepressives, the other predictions were not supported. Comparisons between depressed and nondepressed schizophrenics indicate that the mood of depressed schizophrenics was especially sensitive to task outcome for both skill and chance conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of the parents and verbal reinforcement on the performance of schizophrenic patients.

Conducted 2 studies concerned with the psychological deficits displayed by schizophrenic patients. The 1st study evaluated the role of the parents and the 2nd measured the effects of praise and censure. For each study, Ss were 2 groups of male schizophrenic patients, 1 rated as good and the other as poor by means of the Phillips Scale, and a group of nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients. Large differences were found between Ss whose parents displayed high and those whose parents displayed low degrees of conflict toward them just prior to the task performance. Verbal rewards and punishments did not appear to affect the Ss behavior and for neither study were the 3 types of S's differentially influenced by the manipulations. The main conclusions are that the phenomenon of psychological deficits is extremely complex and that schizophrenics are less readily influenced by affective experiences than prior researchers have suggested. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broadening dual modality cue utilization in chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics.

Recent evidence suggests that chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics show a narrowed range of cue utilization, especially when cues from more than 1 sensory modality are task relevant. In the present study with 20 male nonparanoid schizophrenic inpatients, it was hypothesized that this deficit can be ameliorated. All Ss were given premeasures of narrowed cue utilization on 2 dual modality tasks. Experimental Ss were then given contingent reinforcement and feedback on 2 tasks, while controls received nonreinforced practice on 1 task and no practice on the other. The major hypothesis was supported; experimental Ss improved (i.e., broadened) significantly more than controls on both tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social competence as a process-reactive dimension with schizophrenics, alcoholics, and normals.

Investigated the effect of the level of social competence on the performance of a paired discrimination task involving social censure cues for groups of male hospitalized schizophrenics, alcoholics, and normals. Previous studies finding differences between process and reactive schizophrenics had not controlled for the social competence level of the normal controls. 24 Ss from each diagnostic category were divided equally among groups of low, middle, and high social competence levels. Low social competence Ss discriminated maternal censure stimuli more poorly than middle or high socially competent groups. Psychiatric diagnosis had no significant effect on performance. Results do not support the social censure theory of schizophrenia and suggest that there has been confounding between social competence level and diagnosis in previous process-reactive research. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic deficit and its relation to social motivation.

A study investigating the effects of praise and encouragement on the performance of schizophrenics was carried out with 48 normal and 48 hospitalized schizophrenics, the latter being drawn equally from open and closed wards. All Ss performed a simple motor task, those in the experimental groups receiving verbal praise and encouragement from E after each trial and those in the control groups no evaluative comments. The results indicated that all experimental groups performed better than their controls but that the amount of improvement did not differ among the diagnostic groups. In absolute performance level, normals were significantly superior to the schizophrenics but the 2 schizophrenics groups did not differ significantly from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Size estimation, perceptual recognition, and cardiac rate response in acute paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

Studied perceptual response styles of 8 paranoid and 8 nonparanoid schizophrenics in a VA hospital using size estimation and perceptual recognition tasks. Eight alcoholic patients were used as controls. Only acute, actively psychotic, unmedicated schizophrenics were included. Heart rate responses were monitored during the performance of the tasks. Psychological task performance and concomitant physiological responses were analyzed and integrated. The size estimation results replicate earlier findings. During the perceptual recognition task, the paranoid Ss showed a unique "jump to conclusions" response strategy. Early responding and response rigidity was not found to be specific to paranoid schizophrenics. All schizophrenic Ss showed more large-magnitude heart rate response during both tasks. The relationship between perceptual responses and physiological responses differed among the groups. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior experimenter-subject relationships on reinforced reaction time of schizophrenics and normals.

The hypothesis was tested that deficits in schizophrenics' responses to positive social reinforcers would be reduced if reinforcers were delivered by an E who had first related to the Ss in a warm and accepting manner. Reaction times of 39 chronic schizophrenics and 39 normal adults were tested without and with reinforcement after exposure to 1 of 3 conditions of contact with E: (a) no contact, (b) contact with an unresponsive and aloof E, and (c) contact with a warm and accepting E. Schizophrenics had slowest reaction times after c. Normals had slowest reaction times after c until reinforced; on reinforced trials there were no differences between conditions for normal Ss. The results indicate that chronic schizophrenics can be motivated to gain approval but that such motivation in schizophrenics is more dependent upon immediate social circumstances than it is in normal adults. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal operant conditioning of hospitalized psychiatric patients.

In Exp. I, 81 male psychiatric patients were divided into 9 subgroups according to age and length of hospitalization. Plural nouns were reinforced by positive verbal feedback. Results were: (1) least chronic Ss increased their operant rates; (2) most chronic Ss did not; and (3) there was significant interaction with respect to age and chronicity. In Exp. II, 60 schizophrenics were divided into 6 subgroups with respect to length of hospitalization and mode of reinforcement, i.e., verbal, primary, or combination. Acute-type schizophrenics responded positively to all types of reinforcement. Chronics responded only to primary reinforcement and to the combination procedure. Mode of reinforcement was a significant variable affecting operant rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenia and the scanning cognitive control: A reevaluation.

In recent studies it has been inferred from performance on perceptual tasks, that paranoid schizophrenics showed extensive scanning and nonparanoid schizophrenics showed minimal scanning. Eye movements during free-search and size-judgment tasks were recorded for 14 paranoid and 14 nonparanoid schizophrenics, 14 psychotic depressives, and 14 control Ss. Medicated Ss showed lower eyemovement rate and fixation rate than nonmedicated Ss and controls, but there were no significant differences due to schizophrenia. There was a significant interaction between patient type and medication for size-judgment means, but all such differences were reduced to nonsignificance by training. Even after training, Ss showed greater variability in size judgments than controls. Results failed to support the notion of extensive or minimal scanning behavior of schizophrenics. Errors by the psychotic patients in making size judgments were not correlated with scanning behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reversal and extradimensional shifts in abstract and concrete schizophrenics.

72 concrete schizophrenics, defined in terms of conceptual sorting difficulties, were trained under 1 of 3 discrimination-learning conditions: reversal (R) shift, extradimensional (ED) shift, or control. 72 abstract schizophrenics were similarly divided, 1/2 of the Ss in each condition received verbal reinforcement, and 1/2 received candy reinforcement. Results indicated that concrete Ss required significantly more trials to learn the shift concepts than abstract Ss. Both R and ED shifts produced negative transfer relative to control conditions, but there was no significant difference between the 2 shift conditions. No differential effect was attributable to the different reinforcers. Results were discussed in terms of 2-stage discrimination-learning models and Goldstein's theory of schizophrenic concreteness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embedded figures performance of schizophrenics as a function of chronicity, premorbid adjustment, diagnosis and medication.

Presents data on the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) performance of 487 schizophrenics and other hospitalized patients divided in terms of chronicity, premorbid adjustment, diagnosis, and medication. Results indicate that chronicity was related to EFT performance, with chronic Ss generally more field dependent than acute Ss. Some schizophrenics, however, were relatively field dependent when entering the hospital and did not change with extensive hospitalization. Medication interacted with premorbid adjustment and diagnosis, with the medicated poor paranoid performing in a field-independent manner while the nonmedicated poor paranoid was quite field dependent. The effects of institutionalization are discussed. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye tracking in patients with unipolar and bipolar affective disorders in remission.

Examined patients (20–66 yrs old) with a history of recurrent affective disorder on a variety of smooth-pursuit and saccadic eye-tracking tasks and on psychomotor analogs of these tasks. The 25 unipolar and 24 bipolar Ss were compared to 24 schizophrenics; all Ss were in remission. Results indicate that the performance of the 2 affective-disorder groups was not significantly different from that of the controls on any of these tasks. Smooth-pursuit tracking error was greater for Ss receiving Li and for those with a higher frequency of prior episodes of the disorder. When the pursuit eye movements of these Ss were compared to those of the schizophrenics, the latter produced more tracking error than both affective-disorder groups but significantly so only with respect to unipolar Ss. Although findings are consistent with the interpretation that tracking dysfunction is not a trait characteristic of affective disorders, further investigations contrasting remitted patients with bipolar and schizophrenic disorders are needed to determine the specificity of deviant tracking to schizophrenia. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention, breadth of attention, and shifting attention in chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics

Compared the performance of 16 normals (hospital employees), 16 chronic schizophrenics, and 16 hospitalized alcoholics in a reaction time task with simultaneous presentation of 2 stimuli and the offset of 1 stimulus as the signal. The stimuli were either of 1 or 2 different modalities, and the signal was known or was not known to the Ss in advance. The data were analyzed according to 2 different models of attentional deficit in chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics. No empirical support could be found for W. E. Broen's (1973) model, which attributes the difficulties that chronic nonparanoid schizophrenics experience in tasks with stimuli of different sense modalities to narrowed attention. On the other hand, M. W, Kristofferson's (see PA, Vol 42:958) findings on slower attentional shifts in chronic schizophrenics could be replicated. As an extension of her work, it is shown that this slower shifting process is confined to cross-modal shifts—no differences being found between normals, chronic schizophrenics, and alcoholics in ipsimodal shifts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)