Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Rutgers University.
University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University.
J Abnorm Psychol. 2019 Jan;128(1):57-68. doi: 10.1037/abn0000384. Epub 2018 Oct 22.
Visual shape completion is a fundamental process that constructs contours and shapes on the basis of the geometric relations between spatially separated edge elements. People with schizophrenia are impaired at distinguishing visually completed shapes, but when does the impairment emerge and how does it evolve with illness duration? The question bears on the debate as to whether cognition declines after illness onset. To address the issue, we tested healthy controls (n = 48), first-episode psychosis patients (n = 23), and chronic schizophrenia patients (n = 49) on a classic psychophysical task in which subjects discriminated the relative orientations of four sectored circles that either formed or did not form visually completed shapes (illusory and fragmented conditions, respectively). Visual shape completion was quantified as the extent to which performance in the illusory condition exceeded that of the fragmented. Half of the trials incorporated wire edge elements, which augment contour salience and improve shape completion. Each patient group exhibited large visual shape completion deficits that could not be explained by differences in age, motivation, or orientation tuning. Patients responded normally to changes in illusory contour salience, indicating that they were forming but not adequately employing such contours for discriminating shapes. Shape completion deficits were most apparent for patients with cognitive disorganization, poor premorbid early adolescent functioning, and normal orientation discrimination. Visual shape completion deficits emerge maximally by the first psychotic episode and arise from higher-level disturbances that are related to premorbid functioning and disorganization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
视觉形状完成是一种基本过程，它基于空间上分离的边缘元素之间的几何关系来构建轮廓和形状。精神分裂症患者在区分视觉完成的形状方面存在障碍，但这种障碍何时出现，以及它如何随疾病持续时间而演变？这个问题涉及到一个争论，即认知是否在发病后下降。为了解决这个问题，我们在一项经典的心理物理任务中测试了健康对照组（n=48）、首发精神病患者（n=23）和慢性精神分裂症患者（n=49），在这个任务中，被试者需要辨别四个扇形圆的相对方向，这些圆要么形成了视觉上完整的形状（幻觉条件），要么没有（碎片化条件）。视觉形状完成度的量化标准是幻觉条件下的表现相对于碎片化条件下的表现的差异程度。一半的试验中包含了线边缘元素，这增加了轮廓的显著性，并改善了形状的完成度。每个患者组都表现出明显的视觉形状完成缺陷，这些缺陷不能用年龄、动机或方向调谐的差异来解释。患者对幻觉轮廓显著性的变化反应正常，表明他们正在形成，但不能充分利用这些轮廓来区分形状。对于认知障碍、青少年前期功能差和方向辨别正常的患者，形状完成缺陷最为明显。视觉形状完成缺陷在首次精神病发作时达到最大值，并且源于与发病前功能和紊乱相关的更高层次的干扰。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。
