STUDY OF SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

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The purpose of this project is to use the techniques of experimental psychology to investigate the nature of schizophrenics' social and cognitive functioning. One question being addressed is that of the effect of social situations on schizophrenics' performance. This is done in an experiment where schizophrenics perform a perceptual task in which a computer presents stimuli and evaluates response accuracy. Feedback is provided either by the experimenter or by the computer and subjects' responses to the two types of feedback are compared. Plans are also underway to study the cognitive functioning of schizophrenics by examining their performance in experimental situations in which normally effective cognitive processes actually impair the performance levels of normal individuals. This will be done in order to see whether possible deficits in revelant aspects of schizophrenics' cognitive functioning might permit their performance level to surpass that of normals.