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Signal Detection Analysis of Short-Term Recall in Schizophrenia

1991; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 179; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/00005053-199108000-00008

1539-736X

Patrick W. Corrigan, Michael Foster Green,

Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

1UCLA/Camarillo Clinical Research Center for Schizophrenia and Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Los Angeles, California. 2Present affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, Box 411, 5841 S. Maryland, Chicago, Illinois 60637. Unlike many traditional performance measures, signal detection indices of sensitivity are free of response biases. Signal detection and traditional indices of performance were obtained from a short-term recall task during distractor and neutral conditions for schizophrenic patients and normal subjects. Items in each condition had been matched previously for difficulty and consistency to determine whether diminished recall during distraction represented a true differential deficit. Results showed similar patterns for both types of indices: normal subjects performed better than patients across both conditions, patients recalled less after presentation of a distractor than during a neutral condition, and normal subjects showed no performance decrement between the two conditions. These findings demonstrated that the differential deficit was due to changes in schizophrenic patients' sensitivity to stimulus items, not response biases.