Preferred interpersonal distance as a function of locus of control orientation in chronic schizophrenics, nonschizophrenic patients, and normals.

Used a new instrument, the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance scale, to reassess the relationship between psychopathology and interpersonal distance. It was predicted that, since schizophrenics are more external than normals and since externality has been shown to be related to greater preferred distance from others, 20 female schizophrenics theoretically should prefer greater distance, in general, from interpersonal stimuli. 20 female nonschizophrenic patients were included as controls for the "externalizing" effects of hospitalization. Results show that schizophrenics were more external than nonschizophrenics, who were more external than 20 normals. Preferred distance from interpersonal stimuli as measured by the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance scale was greatest for schizophrenics and least for normals. Implications for future research and treatment of schizophrenic patients are discussed. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proprioception and schizophrenia: a replication study with nonschizophrenic patient controls

In 3 experiments, weight discrimination, arm flexion discrimination, and a test of kinesthetic figural aftereffects were used to evaluate the proprioceptive functioning of 40 schizophrenic patients, 30 nonschizophrenic (psychotic and nonpsychotic) patients, and 10 normals. The additional variables of premorbid functioning and paranoia were also examined. Previous findings of a subtle proprioceptive deficit for schizophrenics in comparison with normals were replicated for nonparanoid schizophrenics of a weight-discrimination procedure and poor premorbid schizophrenics on an arm-flexion task. The kinesthetic-figural-aftereffects schizophrenic deficit previously reported by the author and E. Ebner (see record 1974-23243-001) was not replicated. Deficits in proprioception also were found for all nonschizophrenic patient groups on the weight-discrimination procedure and for poor premorbid nonschizophrenic psychotics and neurotics on the arm-flexion task. It is concluded that a deficit in proprioception is not unique to schizophrenia but appears to be related to chronicity and severity of pathology in both schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic hospitalized patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selection of subjects in studies of schizophrenic cognition.

Considers that an investigator's method of selection of schizophrenics and control Ss for research on schizophrenic cognition determines whether groups differ either on accuracy or on any specific error that is highly correlated with accuracy. Severity of disturbance and chronicity are especially important determinants of results. If matching on correlated demographic variables is part of the design, the matching should be very close; even nonsignificant demographic differences can affect the results. Psychiatric controls are not useful for determining whether schizophrenics have a specific defect because nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients may also show that defect. Testing of nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients is useful for determining whether such patients show a given defect but seldom yields evidence with generality concerning which kind of patient shows it the most. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary aortic mural thrombus: presentation and treatment

Schizophrenic patients are extremely heavy tobacco smokers. However, a lower incidence of lung cancer in schizophrenic patients has been observed in comparison to other heavy smokers. Nicotine increases the proliferation of pulmonary neuroendocrine tissue, causing the release of a bombesin-like peptide. Thus, bombesin-like peptide levels in urine may be an indicator of precancerous, cigarette-induced lung damage. Bombesin-like peptide levels of 10 schizophrenic smokers and 11 schizophrenic nonsmokers were compared to those of nonschizophrenic subjects matched for age and pack-years of smoking. The nonschizophrenic smokers showed the expected increase in urinary bombesin-like peptide levels, as compared to nonschizophrenic nonsmokers. Schizophrenic patients had lower bombesin-like peptide levels independent of smoking effects. The mechanism of the difference in bombesin-like peptide levels between schizophrenic patients and nonschizophrenic subjects is unknown, but one possibility involves alteration in the alpha 7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which mediates the growth of some neuroendocrine cell lines in vitro.     

Contextual effects on the short-term memory retrieval of schizophrenic young adults.

Two experiments were performed to determine if the dysfunction in mnemonic organization often found in schizophrenic free-recall performance is the result of an organizational deficit in short-term memory processing. In Exp I, which tested 16 schizophrenics, 16 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients, and 16 nonpatient controls, categorical cues (letters and digits) were introduced into a Sternberg item recognition task. Schizophrenics utilized the categorical cue to reduce their latencies for search and retrieval as well as did both normals and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients. In Exp II, which used a Sternberg context-recall task and tested the same number and type of Ss (31 also served in Exp I), latencies for both forward and backward sequential retrieval were measured. Schizophrenics again performed as well as controls. Data also suggest that the retrieval strategies adopted by schizophrenics were comparable to those of controls in both experiments. It is concluded that schizophrenics' short-term memory processes for categorical and sequential materials are adequate and therefore are not responsible for the organizational dysfunction in their free-recall performance. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hand therapy education: a global perspective

BACKGROUND: Identifying brain changes in schizophrenia has been a major research focus for many years. Although impressive gains have been made in neuroimaging and brain electrophysiology, molecular and cellular markers of schizophrenia have lagged. There are no consistent biochemical markers for schizophrenia pathophysiology and none that reflect treatment course. METHODS: Samples were obtained from 25 postmortem schizophrenic brains and 31 nonschizophrenic controls. These samples were processed, and the synaptosomal fraction was isolated. Ten micrograms of protein from each of these samples was solubilized in a sodium dodecylsulfate sample buffer and separated on 10% (wt/vol) polyacrylamide gels. Monoclonal antibody (SMI-81) was incubated with the blots and, using quantitative Western blotting, we measured the relative amounts of SNAP-25 in these samples. RESULTS: We report altered levels of SNAP-25 in both the inferior temporal cortex (Brodmann area 20) and prefrontal association cortex (Brodmann areas 9 and 10) in postmortem brains of patients with schizophrenia relative to nonschizophrenic controls. Normal levels of SNAP-25 are noted in schizophrenics in area 17, decreased levels in areas 10 and 20, and an elevated level in area 9. CONCLUSIONS: These data support cytoarchitectural observations that the cerebral cortex of schizophrenic patients has extensive pathology. The data presented here, along with data on other brain-specific proteins, indicate a complicated molecular adaptation to the causative factors of schizophrenia.     

Short-term memory impairment in chronic schizophrenics.

Assessed the short-term memory capacities of 4 chronic, schizophrenic and 4 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients who served as controls. The information to be remembered was presented both visually and verbally and was later probed for after a variable interval by either visual or verbal cues. Schizophrenics and controls did not differ with respect to which type of cue retrieved more of the information, suggesting that the modality in which the information was stored was the same for both groups. However, schizophrenics were markedly inferior to controls regarding both the initial acquisition of information and the maintenance of it in storage. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social competence and posthospital outcome among schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients.

Although E. Zigler and L. Phillips (see 37:1 and 38:6) contend that an identical relationship between premorbid social competence and prognosis is found in both a schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic hospital population, supporting data are not presented. To test this hypothesis, the 3-yr posthospital outcomes of 81 schizophrenic and 85 nonschizophrenic previously hospitalized patients were separately related to the Zigler and Phillips' Social Competence Scale. The results indicate that among schizophrenics social competence is positively related to 2 out of 5 indexes of posthospital outcome: incidence (p     

Schizophrenic thought disorders and impaired perspective.

Hypothesized that impaired perspective on the idiosyncracy of their own behavior is a central factor in the speech and thought pathology of schizophrenics and bizarre patients. 30 schizophrenic and 29 nonschizophrenic patients (mean age 25 yrs) rated the typicalness of their own and other patients' responses to proverbs. An index of perspective was calculated by correlating these ratings with trained judges' ratings of the idiosyncracy of the responses. Perspective on patients' own responses was significantly lower among schizophrenics and bizarre patients than among nonschizophrenics and nonbizarre patients. Poorer perspective occurred in patients' ratings of their own responses than in their ratings of other patients' responses. Results suggest that (a) loss of global perspective concerning the idiosyncracy of one's own verbalizations is closely associated with a tendency toward disordered speech. (b) Somewhat impaired perspective on what behavior is socially appropriate is common to all types of disturbed patients but is more severe in schizophrenics. (c) The impairment in schizophrenics is selective, involving difficulty in maintaining perspective on their own behavior, with better perspective when assessing others' behavior. (40 ref) (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)     

Backward masking as a measure of attention in schizophrenia.

Compared backward-masking functions for 2 groups of 16 schizophrenics with the masking functions for 2 control groups (8 undergraduates and 8 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients). Masking functions were obtained for both single-letter and 8-letter visual displays. The procedure involved a forced-choice letter recognition method analogous to signal detection methodology. Both schizophrenic groups produced longer masking functions, under all conditions, than the 2 control groups whose functions were highly similar. Consistent with "attention" theories of schizophrenia, results indicate that some deficit occurs in schizophrenia at a very early stage of information-processing in the visual system. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of signal-noise similarity on visual information processing of schizophrenics.

Performed 2 studies with a total of 34 schizophrenic and 34 nonschizophrenic male inpatients to examine the effect of target-noise similarity on the span of apprehension performance of schizophrenics. Ss were required to search a briefly presented display of letters for a target letter which was presented along with noise letters of varying degrees of physical similarity to the target. In both studies the schizophrenics' performance was significantly poorer than that of controls, and the target-noise similarity manipulation affected both groups equally. Results indicate that the information-processing operations of both groups were similar but that schizophrenics performed them at a slower rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of judgmental impairment in paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics.

While it is known that schizophrenic patients perform more poorly than nonschizophrenics on most cognitive tasks, the specific nature of their impairment is unclear. Social judgment theory suggests both procedures and analyses that may clarify this situation. The present study evaluated the performance of schizophrenics on the judgment indices of task knowledge and cognitive control. 12 paranoid schizophrenics, 12 nonparanoids, and 12 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients completed 60 trials of a complex judgment task. Although all Ss were males, they were not controlled for age, education, or intelligence variables. Some Ss were rated with the Short Scale for Rating Paranoid Schizophrenia. Both groups of schizophrenics performed more poorly than normals, although only nonparanoids demonstrated significant impairment. Analysis of the component indices of performance indicated that the schizophrenic subgroups demonstrated contrasting forms of impairment. Paranoids evidenced poorer task knowledge than nonschizophrenics, whereas nonparanoids were impaired on control. Results may have relevance for identifying sources of cognitive dysfunction and for suggesting differential therapeutic strategies with these patients. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Production of associative sequences in process-reactive schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic groups.

A previous study (Judson & Katahn, 1960) disclosed significant differences between process-reactive schizophrenics in the recall of friends' names over a 10-minute interval. The differences were greater than would have been expected from their recall of animal names and IQ scores. This was interpreted as reflecting a special restriction in interpersonal relationships in a generally impoverished relationship with the environment. The present study sought to extend the findings and employed both schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients. Both the process-reactive dimension and diagnostic category made significant independent and interacting contributions to the recall of friends' names, that is, the material with social connotations, but not to the recall of animal names. By subgroups, the rank order of recall from least to greatest, was process schizophrenics, process nonschizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, reactive nonschizophrenics. The process-reactive distinction thus proved meaningful for nonschizophrenic as well as schizophrenic patients on this material. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia: A review.

Describes 3 approaches using monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. It is noted that comparisons of discordant with concordant pairs have yielded conflicting results concerning the possibility of both genetic and environmentally induced forms of schizophrenia. Life history comparisons of schizophrenics with their nonschizophrenic co-twins have revealed consistent early differences in personality and parental treatment; investigators disagree, however, on the relationship of birth weight to schizophrenic development. Relatively few studies have been done of concordance for personality or performance traits among monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenic diagnosis. It is suggested that this 3rd type of research holds great promise for identifying fundamental manifestations of the schizophrenic genotype, that higher female concordance rates make female discordance worthy of greater attention, and that investigations of environmental influences on the development of schizophrenia neglect less the possible positive influences which may buffer against schizophrenic breakdown. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, social competence, and symptomatology in schizophrenia: A longitudinal analysis.

The relationship between gender and social skill measured by performance on a role play test was examined in a sample of 57 schizophrenics, 33 affective disorder patients, and 20 nonpatient controls. Female schizophrenics were more skilled than male schizophrenics, but no gender differences were present in the affective patients or the controls. Longitudinal analyses conducted on the schizophrenic group indicated that the superior social skill of women was stable over the year following a symptom exacerbation. Symptoms and social adjustment improved for both men and women over the year, but did not differ according to gender. The implications of the results for gender differences in the long-term outcome of schizophrenia are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenia: Effects of inheritance and rearing on reaction time.

Studied both manual and verbal reaction time in 4 selected groups of adult Ss (N = 258) in an attempt to uncover hereditary and environmental influences on the reaction time of Ss whose parents do or do not have schizophrenic disorders. The groups included (a) adoptive offspring of schizophrenic parents (adoptive index); (b) adoptive offspring of nonschizophrenic parents, but whose adoptive parents had a psychiatric record of schizophrenic disorder (cross-foster); (c) adoptive offspring of nonschizophrenic parents (adoptive control); and (d) offspring of schizophrenic parents who were reared by their biological parents (nonadoptees). Analysis of variance was used to assess the effects of rearing by a schizophrenic parent, a genetic background for schizophrenia, and interaction between rearing and genetic background. Groups opposed for genetic background for schizophrenia were not different in reaction time performance, while groups opposed for rearing by a schizophrenic parent were significantly so. Mean reaction time was slower in groups reared by a schizophrenic parent than in those reared by a nonschizophrenic parent. There was no significant interaction between rearing and genetic background for reaction time performance. (French summary) (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time-linked impairment in schizophrenic reaction time performance.

Reports on the disruptive influence of uncertain visual probe stimuli on schizophrenic reaction time performance as a function of both the time since the onset of the probe stimuli and the pathology level of the Ss. Two studies were conducted, using 32 process schizophrenics, 16 reactive schizophrenics, 16 nonschizophrenic patients (alcoholic, immature personality, and depression diagnoses), and 16 normal controls. Mean ages of Ss ranged from 28.2 to 37.1 yrs. Probe trials were imbedded within standard series of regular reaction time trials. Both process and reactive schizophrenics were impaired by this stimulation on trials with only a 1-sec preparatory interval. Process schizophrenics showed impairment at the longest (9-sec) trials following recovery at midrange durations. The midrange recovery and long trial impairment of the process schizophrenics was a pattern strongly related to degree of pathology. The same U-shaped pattern—early and late impairment with intermediate recovery—and a similar relationship of the reaction time pattern to pathology level were found again in a 2nd sample of process schizophrenics who were given less intense visual stimulation on the probe trials. The U-shaped patterns obtained for the process schizophrenics in both studies are thought to reflect inadequate modulation of inhibitory controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodermal activity as a predictor of social functioning in female schizophrenics

Twenty-nine female schizophrenics and 20 female controls were presented with a series of moderately intense tones in a standard orienting habituation paradigm while skin conductance was monitored. Premorbid adjustment and symptoms were also rated, and the schizophrenics were observed 2 years later. The total schizophrenic group was divided into a good-outcome group and a poor-outcome group. Good social functioning outcome required both self-supporting ability in the job market and at least a minimal social life. The poor-outcome group had a significantly higher skin-conductance level and frequency of spontaneous skin-conductance fluctuations than the control group, whereas the few patients with good outcome did not differ from controls. These results are contrary to previous findings with a group of schizophrenic men in which poor social functioning was associated with low electrodermal activity. This discrepancy is discussed in terms of sex differences in schizophrenic disorder.     

Two measures of overinclusive thinking in schizophrenia: A comparative analysis.

Compared the performance of 30 chronic schizophrenics and 30 patients with personality disorders on 2 measures of overinclusion. Consistent with previous research, schizophrenic Ss showed more overinclusion than nonschizophrenic Ss on an R. W. Payne-type test, and were more overinclusive on a Payne-type test than on an L. J. Chapman-type test. Results are interpreted within the framework of W. E. Broen and L. H. Storm's theory of partial collapse of response hierarchies in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)