Interhemispheric transfer of visual information in schizophrenics.

Groups of 12 male schizophrenic inpatients and 12 normal controls of the same age, sex, and schooling underwent a tachistoscopic test. Each subject was shown an alphabetical letter which he subsequently had to recognize among various other alphabetical letters also shown tachistoscopically. The visual hemifields of the two displays were ipsilateral and crossed. Relative to the normal group the schizophrenics showed higher perceptual thresholds, lower over-all mean performance, and greater lateralization. The results are discussed in terms of rigidly and poorly integrated systems of analysis of information between one hemisphere and the other for schizophrenic patients.