Schizophrenia and the immediacy mechanism.

The author comments on the article "The primacy of cognition in schizophrenia," by R. W. Heinrichs (see record 2005-03019-003) and states that to the pursuit of schizophrenic/normal differences, there is no end. Heinrichs used meta-analyses to argue persuasively for the primacy of cognition for this role. His conclusion not only elicited agreement from both researchers and practitioners, but it is supported by his quantitative estimate of those differences through the use of meta-analysis and the associated effect sizes. An interesting question is why cognitive behavior should be so effective in differentiating schizophrenia patients from normal persons. The current author believes one answer is that cognitive behavior involves complex stimulus control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How to fill a half-full glass: Emotion and schizophrenia.

The authors comment on the article "The primacy of cognition in schizophrenia," by R. W. Heinrichs (see record 2005-03019-003). They state that Heinrichs persuasively argued as to the primacy of cognition in schizophrenia by citing an impressive body of evidence in favor of the view that schizophrenia is a complex biobehavioral disorder that manifests itself primarily in cognition. His conclusion is something of an anticlimax. At the same time, however, he acknowledged that "the glass of evidence is half empty as well as half full" (Heinrichs, 2005, p. 238). That is to say, the symptoms that mark out schizophrenia--the hallucinations, delusions, and so forth--do not appear to map onto cognitive deficits, or at least they do not map onto those that are measured with traditional neuropsychological tests. To fill the other half of the glass, the authors propose that a focus on emotion (largely neglected in the target article) will be of crucial importance. Furthermore, they commend the methods of cognitive neuropsychiatry as being eminently suitable to guide this research. The authors briefly illustrate the value of this approach with reference to affective characteristics of hallucinations and cognitive-emotional interactions in source monitoring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediacy, emotion, and the filling of glasses: Next round's on you.

In this article, I respond to comments made by K. Salzinger (see record 2006-00920-010) and A. Aleman and A. S. David (see record 2006-00920-011) on my original article (see record 2005-03019-003). The constructive, reconstructive, and interpretive nature of human cognition is well illustrated by these two responses to my recent article on schizophrenia. In the original article, I used meta-analytic summaries of the published literature to show that a majority of schizophrenia patients are distinguishable from healthy people on the basis of standard tests of cognitive ability. I also showed that commonly reported brain-imaging findings lack this discriminating power, at least in terms of variables that lend themselves to meta-analytic synthesis. I went on to discuss influences, from brain disturbance to stress to endophenotypes, that may underpin the sensitivity of cognitive performance to schizophrenia. Neither Salzinger nor Aleman and David disputed the meta-analytic evidence I presented. Instead, they have their own rather oblique takes on my findings and advocate research not included in the quantitative summaries or related discussion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognition must be computational.

Reviews the book, Computation and Cognition: Toward A Foundation for Cognitive Science by Z. W. Pylyshyn (see record 1986-97211-000). The history of science provides many demonstrations of our intellectual debt to our tools: from Descartes forward, psychological theory has depended on metaphors based on the technology of the day. Computers are the currently exciting technology, and, from that fact alone, one might expect a book with the title Computation and Cognition to invite us to reshape psychological theory in image of the digital computer. That message is not what Pylyshyn has to sell. Instead, he examines computation at a theoretical level and shows that it involves three distinct levels of analysis: a physical, a symbolic, and a semantic level. He argues that to understand mental processes, one needs exactly the same three-level analysis, that is, cognition is computational. In spite of the book's faults, my opinion remains firmly positive: Computation and Cognition is an instant classic. It is a book which deserves to have a major influence on the shape of future work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working Memory Consolidation Is Abnormally Slow in Schizophrenia.

This study reports evidence that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate a slowing of working memory (WM) consolidation, which is the process of transforming transient perceptual representations into durable WM representations. Sixteen schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy control participants performed a task measuring the visual WM consolidation rate in a change-detection paradigm. A target display containing 3 colored squares was followed by a variable delay of 17-483 ms, a pattern mask, and then a test stimulus. This pattern mask does not interfere with perception but disrupts WM consolidation. Control participants reached no-mask performance by 250 ms, indicating completed WM consolidation, whereas patients failed to reach no-mask performance by 483 ms. Slowed consolidation may play an important and largely unrecognized role in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurophysiological Evidence for Disturbances of Conflict Processing in Patients With Schizophrenia.

Deficits in cognition are a hallmark of schizophrenia. In the present study, the authors investigated the effects of schizophrenia on the neural correlates of conflict processing in a single-trial version of the Stroop task by using event-related brain potentials. Relative to matched controls, patients with schizophrenia showed increased Stroop interference in response time, but this effect was eliminated when the effect of response slowing was controlled. In controls, conflict processing was associated with a negative wave peaking between 400 and 500 ms (N450) and conflict sustained potential (SP) peaking between 600 and 800 ms after stimulus onset. In patients with schizophrenia, the amplitude of the N450 was significantly attenuated and the conflict SP was absent. These results provide evidence for the existence of altered neural processes associated with conflict processing that may be associated with dysfunction of the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in patients with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multimodal Integrative Cognitive Stimulating Group Therapy: Moving Beyond the Reduction of Psychopathology in Schizophrenia.

The authors present a group therapy for schizophrenia called multimodal integrative cognitive stimulating group therapy (MICST). MICST is founded upon a theoretical model that views schizophrenia as a condition characterized by information-processing and memory deficits, which interfere with communication. MICST is designed to stimulate clients' cognitive and memory functioning, improve information processing, and enhance clients' abilities to engage in reality-based conversations. The therapy combines elements of social skills relaxation exercise, cognitive rehabilitation, and traditional psychotherapy but also emphasizes accessing clients' "intact" cognitive functioning by using both visual and auditory modalities. MICST's long-term use, its eager acceptance by clients and staff, and results from various outcome measures support its potential value. However, formal studies are required to more firmly establish MICST's efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual Organization in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: Empirical Research and Theoretical Implications.

The research into perceptual organization in schizophrenia spectrum disorders has found evidence for and against a perceptual organization deficit and has interpreted the data from within several different theoretical frameworks. A synthesis of this evidence, however, reveals that this body of work has produced reliable evidence for deficits in schizophrenia, as well as for the clinical, stimulus, and task parameters associated with normal and abnormal performance. Recent models of cognition have also advanced understanding of the underlying pathophysiological processes of perceptual organization dysfunction in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. These suggest that deficits in perceptual organization may be one manifestation of a wider disturbance in the integration of contextually related information across space and time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory of Mind and Motion Perception in Schizophrenia.

This study investigated the relationship between theory of mind (ToM) deficits and visual perception in patients with schizophrenia (N=52; 17 remitted and unmedicated) compared with healthy controls (N=30). ToM was assessed with the Eyes Test, which asked participants to choose which of 4 words best described the mental state of a person whose eyes were depicted in a photograph. Visual perception was evaluated with form and motion coherence threshold measurements. Results revealed that patients with schizophrenia (both remitted and nonremitted) showed deficits on the Eyes Test and the motion coherence task. ToM dysfunctions were associated with higher motion coherence thresholds and more severe negative symptoms. This suggests that ToM deficits are related to motion perception dysfunctions, which indicates a possible role of motion-sensitive areas in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Direct Measurement of Differential Cognitive Deficit in Acute Schizophrenia": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by J. N. Deluca (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1967[April], Vol 72[2], 143-146). The author's affiliation on page 143 should read as follows: "290 Madison Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2005-09867-003). This is a longitudinal study in which 11 standardized test of cognitive function were administered to 20,000 normal Ss and at a later point in time readministered to those Ss of the original group (N=15) who became schizophrenic and were hospitalized. The tests were also readministered to part of the original group (N=40) who, at the same point in time, were still normal. The results, which revealed significant differential deficit on 5 of the measures, suggest that lack of motivation to reach out and actively manipulate stimuli or experience new learning produced the differences observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unlinking Negative Cognition and Symptoms of Depression: Evidence of a Specific Treatment Effect for Cognitive Therapy.

In this study, the authors examined whether cognitive therapy alters the association between negative cognition and symptoms of depression. Participants were recruited during psychiatric hospitalization for depression. Following discharge, they were randomly assigned to 6 months of outpatient treatment. Treatment consisted of pharmacotherapy either alone or in combination with cognitive therapy and/or family therapy. Following this 6-month treatment period, negative cognition and symptoms of depression were assessed monthly for 1 year. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that the association between negative cognition and depression during follow-up was weaker for patients randomized to cognitive therapy than for patients who did not receive cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy appeared to unlink negative cognition and symptoms of depression to a greater extent than other forms of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress-related cognitive interference predicts cognitive function in old age.

Both subjective distress and cognitive interference have been proposed as mechanisms underlying the negative effects of stress on cognition. Studies of aging have shown that distress is associated with lower cognitive performance, but none have examined the effects of cognitive interference. One hundred eleven older adults (Mage=80) completed measures of working memory, processing speed, and episodic memory as well as self-report measures of subjective distress and cognitive interference. Cognitive interference was strongly associated with poorer performance on all 3 cognitive constructs, whereas distress was only modestly associated with lower working memory. The results suggest that cognitive process related to stress is an important predictor of cognitive function in advanced age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Somatosensory Processing and Schizophrenia Liability: Proprioception, Exteroceptive Sensitivity, and Graphesthesia Performance in the Biological Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients.

In the present study, the authors examined somatosensory processing in 30 biological relatives of persons with schizophrenia (hereafter called "schizophrenia relatives"), 30 biological relatives of persons with bipolar affective disorder (psychiatric family control subjects), and 30 healthy control subjects with no family history of psychopathology. All 3 groups completed a weight discrimination task, a 2-point discrimination task, and a complex cognitive somatosensory task (i.e., graphesthesia). The schizophrenia relatives performed significantly worse on all 3 somatosensory tasks compared with both the healthy control subjects and the bipolar relatives. The healthy control subjects and psychiatric family control subjects showed no significant differences on any of the somatosensory tasks. Within the weight discrimination and 2-point discrimination tasks, schizophrenia relatives showed group differences on the d' index, the measure of sensitivity, whereas all 3 groups did not differ on lnβ, the measure of response bias, suggesting a genuine difference in weight and touch sensitivity. The d' value of the weight discrimination task was significantly associated with both the cognitive-perceptual factor and negative symptom factor of the clinical questionnaire (e.g., Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire; SPQ), whereas the 2-point discrimination d' value and graphesthesia scores were significantly associated only with the cognitive-perceptual factor of the SPQ. Implications for the possible relation between somatosensory task performance and schizophrenia liability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Neuroanatomical Basis of Understanding Sarcasm and Its Relationship to Social Cognition.

The authors explored the neurobiology of sarcasm and the cognitive processes underlying it by examining the performance of participants with focal lesions on tasks that required understanding of sarcasm and social cognition. Participants with prefrontal damage (n = 25) showed impaired performance on the sarcasm task, whereas participants with posterior damage (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 17) performed the same task without difficulty. Within the prefrontal group, right ventromedial lesions were associated with the most profound deficit in comprehending sarcasm. In addition, although the prefrontal damage was associated with deficits in theory of mind and right hemisphere damage was associated with deficits in identifying emotions, these 2 abilities were related to the ability to understand sarcasm. This suggests that the right frontal lobe mediates understanding of sarcasm by integrating affective processing with perspective taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive, clinical, and functional characteristics of verbally superior schizophrenia patients.

The existence of small numbers of schizophrenia patients with superior ability in specific cognitive domains is implied by meta-analytic evidence as well as by occasional empirical reports. The authors identified 25 patients with superior (i.e., ≥90th percentile) ability on the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 3rd edition (Wechsler, 1997). These cognitively advantaged patients were compared with 22 healthy participants performing at the superior level and with 126 schizophrenia patients and 50 healthy participants scoring below the superior range. Verbally superior schizophrenia patients and verbally superior healthy participants had similar cognitive profiles and life skills performance, but diverged markedly in terms of independent "real-world" functioning. Verbally superior patients significantly outperformed more typical patients in other aspects of cognitive performance, life skills, and support requirements. However, severity of positive and negative symptoms was equivalent in the patient groups. Detailed biobehavioral study of cognitively exceptional patients may offer new insights into mechanisms mediating psychotic disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Representative Design in an Ecological Approach to Cognition.

Egon Brunswik argued that psychological processes are adapted to environmental properties. He proposed the method of representative design to capture these processes and advocated that psychology be a science of organism-environment relations. Representative design involves randomly sampling stimuli from the environment or creating stimuli in which environmental properties are preserved. This departs from systematic design. The authors review the development of representative design, examine its use in judgment and decision-making research, and demonstrate the effect of design on research findings. They suggest that some of the practical difficulties associated with representative design may be overcome with modern technologies. The importance of representative design in psychology and the implications of this method for ecological approaches to cognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Event-Related fMRI Study of Context Processing in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex of Patients With Schizophrenia.

Context processing is conceptualized as an executive function involved in voluntary, complex actions such as overcoming automatic responses. The present study tested the hypothesis that context-processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia are associated with a dysfunction of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 17 controls and 17 medicated patients performed a version of the AX task in which a learned, automatic response had to be inhibited. In controls, left DLPFC activity increased when preparing to overcome an automatic response, whereas patients with schizophrenia showed no differential activation. In controls, context processing appeared to be associated with the differential representation of cues associated with the need to provide top-down support for overcoming automatic responses. This mechanism appeared to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

False Memories in Schizophrenia.

In prior studies, it was observed that patients with schizophrenia show abnormally high knowledge corruption (i.e., high-confident errors expressed as a percentage of all high-confident responses were increased for schizophrenic patients relative to controls). The authors examined the conditions under which excessive knowledge corruption occurred using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Whereas knowledge corruption in schizophrenia was significantly greater for false-negative errors relative to controls, no group difference occurred for false-positive errors. The groups showed a comparable high degree of confidence for false-positive recognition of critical lure items. Similar to findings collected in elderly participants, patients, but not controls, showed a strong positive correlation between the number of recognized studied items and false-positive recognition of the critical lure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separating Multiple Processes in Implicit Social Cognition: The Quad Model of Implicit Task Performance.

The authors argue that implicit measures of social cognition do not reflect only automatic processes but rather the joint contributions of multiple, qualitatively different processes. The quadruple process model proposed and tested in the present article quantitatively disentangles the influences of 4 distinct processes on implicit task performance: the likelihood that automatic bias is activated by a stimulus; that a correct response can be determined; that automatic bias is overcome; and that, in the absence of other information, a guessing bias drives responses. The stochastic and construct validity of the model is confirmed in 5 studies. The model is shown to provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the interplay of multiple processes in implicit task performance, including implicit measures of attitudes, prejudice, and stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accessibility Effects on Implicit Social Cognition: The Role of Knowledge Activation and Retrieval Experiences.

Performance on measures of implicit social cognition has been shown to vary as a function of the momentary accessibility of relevant information. The present research investigated the mechanisms underlying accessibility effects of self-generated information on implicit measures. Results from 3 experiments demonstrate that measures based on response compatibility processes (e.g., Implicit Association Test, affective priming with an evaluative decision task) are influenced by subjective feelings pertaining to the ease of retrieving relevant information from memory, whereas measures based on stimulus compatibility processes (e.g., semantic priming with a lexical-decision task) are influenced by direct knowledge activation in associative memory. These results indicate that the mediating mechanisms underlying context effects on implicit measures can differ as a function of the task even when these tasks show similar effects on a superficial level. Implications for research on implicit social cognition and the ease-of-retrieval effect are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)