دانلود رایگان مقاله دریچه توجه در اسکیزوفرنی و شخصیت اسکیزوتایپال

Abstract

One of the core deficits that characterizes schizophrenia is an increase in distractibility and disinhibition at all levels of information processing. Patients with schizophrenia seem unable to focus attention on the relevant events while ignoring the irrelevant stimuli. This pattern of behavior is also observed in unmedicated schizotypal individuals who may carry liability for schizophrenia. In this review, we focus on studies of attentional inhibition, as assessed by the negative priming paradigm, to elucidate the relationships among deficits in inhibition, clinical symptoms and medication effects. We then consider models of the etiology of deficits in negative priming in schizophrenia and schizotypal personality. Finally, we discuss the potential power of utilizing hypothesis-driven cognitive paradigms in psychiatric research.

2. Discussion

In this paper, we reviewed the negative priming literature to better understand the extent and nature of attentional inhibition abnormalities in schizophrenia. Research suggests that the attentional window is figuratively wide open in schizophrenia, especially during acute psychosis. Persons with schizophrenia are unable to filter or inhibit irrelevant stimuli because both the target and the distractor are hypothesized to fall within the attentional spotlight. In addition, they are unable to inhibit distractors from intruding into target events across time. There is debate as to whether reduced NP effect in schizophrenia reflects reduced inhibition or the consequence of perceptual mismatch. But spatial NP tasks that are specifically designed to remove perceptual mismatch still result in NP deficit in schizophrenia, which suggests the presence of inhibitory impairments despite initial concerns as to whether the NP deficit in schizophrenia reflected inhibition or not. It is, however, possible that deficits in executive functioning in schizophrenic patients may further accentuate impairments of inhibition.