Automatic andcontrolled information processing in schizophrenia: Typological assessment, behavior, and symptoms [KONTROLLIERTE UND AUTOMATISCHE INFORMATIONSVERARBEITUNG BEI SCHIZOPHRENEN. TYPIKALITATSLOGISCHE ERFASSUNG, VERHALTENS- UND SYMPTOMEBENE]

Abstract

For the identification of attentional and short-term-memory disorders in schizophrenic patients, an approach was favoured which takes care of the single case, is criterion oriented and allows for the delineation of types according to the correctness of theoretical assumptions, considered to be relevant. Patients were classified as 'disturbed' in attention and short-term-memory, when their behaviour did not follow a set of conditional statements describing a pattern of performance in an experiment, designed to assess the respective processes. According to this procedure, 10 out of a sample of 22 schizophrenic patients were classified as being 'disturbed'. Further analyses, using an experiment similar in construct representation indicated that these disturbances rather have to be localized in the field of controlled processes as compared to automatic processes. Further multi-level analyses revealed that the'disturbed' patients were less successful in a training in word processing and were rated higher in certain scales assessing positive and negative symptoms.