STUDY OF SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

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This year the Laboratory began intensive data collection on an experimental psychological research program on schizophrenia that focuses on ocular, cognitive and social interference. It is based on evidence suggesting a close relationship between certain psychological dysfunctions and dysfunctions of the frontal lobes and/or their connectivities (e.g., caudate nucleus, substantia nigra). A related consideration is that much of the schizophrenics' psychological dysfunction seems a result of interference from functionally irrelevant stimuli. This tendency raises the possibility that part of the schizophrenic's neuropsychological difficulties may arise from an inappropriate disinhibition of various neural processes. The program involves a series of interconnected protocols that examine four frequently cited psychological abnormalities in schizophrenics. The first, an inability to focus attention on task relevant aspects of the environment, is examined through such experimental procedures as positive and negative priming Test. A second anomaly, problems in smooth pursuit eye movement, hypothesized to be a genetic marker for schizophrenia, is investigated through the tracking of eye movements during a series of different visual tasks. A third anomaly, schizophrenics' prolonged reaction times, through a series of complex reaction time and temporal patterning experiments involving both hand and eye responses. Finally, the nature of the schizophrenic's severe social dysfunction is examined through experiments that manipulate the social nature of the stimuli and of the source of reinforcement.