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.
