Icon thresholds in paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenics.

Recent work in information processing points to two processes being active when a stimulus produces a short-term memory trace, the icon. Previous work in schizophrenia seems to have blurred this important distinction and as a result the processing of the icon has been confused with the strength of icon. The present paper reviews current work with this distinction in mind and presents data on the icon strength of acute paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenics, chronic schizophrenics, and two control groups as determined by the method of stimulus exposure time. Results indicate no difference in temporal recognition thresholds between schizophrenics and controls, strongly suggesting that the schizophrenia deficit resides in the encoding process.