Reality testing by schizophrenics.

Compared 15 schizophrenics with 15 controls of similar mental test status and educational background on 2 classes of elementary problems from a series of artifact testing tasks monitored by an automatic problem programing machine called the Heuristic Evaluation Problem Programmer. In terms of an index that reflects the ability to conduct the required inquiry efficiently, the groups did not differ significantly on statistical tests that employed between-Ss differences as the error variance. Repeated measures of group differences showed a small, but statistically significant, superiority for the control Ss. Intercorrelations between scores on various problem sets indicated that the tests were reliable. During the 1st 3/4 of the problem series, there was a marked inefficiency of performance in a small group of paranoid schizophrenics as compared with a group of chronic undifferentiated schizophrenics. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)