Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Psychology, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
Schizophr Res. 2011 Apr;127(1-3):163-70. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.11.027. Epub 2010 Dec 24.
During visuo-spatial cognitive tasks, patients with schizophrenia show a preference for local (detailed) rather than global (holistic) information processing. The efficiency of such information processing is influenced by task difficulty. We tested whether patients' preference for local processing would persist if task demands favored global or local processing. Twenty-four stabilized patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and 25 healthy, matched controls (C) were tested in a mental mirroring task. Task difficulty was manipulated while stimulus surface structures were maintained unchanged. Information processing was assessed by recording eye movements. SZ were slower than C in the easiest condition but they made more errors than C in the more difficult conditions. Further, SZ did not adapt their average fixation duration to task demands resulting in longer fixation duration in the easiest condition and shorter fixation duration in the most difficult condition compared to C. These findings suggest that patients employ local information processing even when it is maladaptive for task demands. That is, patients do not adapt their fixation duration to task demands implicating (i) a preference for scanning local stimuli features and (ii) information processing inflexibility. These features need to be taken into account when evaluating visuo-spatial cognitive performance in schizophrenia.
在视空间认知任务中，精神分裂症患者表现出对局部（详细）信息处理的偏好，而不是全局（整体）信息处理。这种信息处理的效率受到任务难度的影响。我们测试了如果任务需求有利于全局或局部处理，患者是否会保持对局部处理的偏好。我们对 24 名稳定的精神分裂症患者（SZ）和 25 名健康、匹配的对照组（C）进行了一项心理镜像任务测试。在保持刺激表面结构不变的情况下，改变任务难度。通过记录眼动来评估信息处理。在最简单的条件下，SZ 比 C 慢，但在更困难的条件下，SZ 的错误比 C 多。此外，SZ 并没有根据任务需求调整他们的平均注视持续时间，导致他们在最简单的条件下注视持续时间更长，在最困难的条件下注视持续时间更短，与 C 相比。这些发现表明，即使对任务需求不利，患者也会采用局部信息处理。也就是说，患者不会根据任务需求调整他们的注视持续时间，这暗示了（i）对扫描局部刺激特征的偏好和（ii）信息处理的不灵活性。在评估精神分裂症中的视空间认知表现时，需要考虑这些特征。
