Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T12:19:07.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Left Hemisphere's Inability to Sustain Attention over Extended Time Periods in Schizophrenics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Shin-ichi Niwa ,
Ken-ichi Hiramatsu ,
Tomomichi Kameyama ,
Osamu Saitoh ,
Kenji Itoh  and
Hiroshi Utena
Shin-ichi Niwa
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan
Ken-ichi Hiramatsu
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan
Tomomichi Kameyama
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan
Osamu Saitoh
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan
Kenji Itoh
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113, Japan
Hiroshi Utena
Affiliation:
Yamada Hospital, Chofu, Tokyo, 182, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Each hemisphere's ability to sustain attention over extended time periods was investigated in 14 schizophrenics and 17 controls using dichotic detection tasks. Schizophrenics produced significantly higher rates of omission errors, as compared to that of commission errors. The rates of omission errors for schizophrenics fluctuated markedly, while the rates of commission errors remained fairly constant. Primarily due to the fluctuation of omission errors, the detection index decreased progressively when schizophrenics were engaged in right-ear tasks. These results suggest that schizophrenics demonstrate a deficit concerning ‘response set’, especially in the left hemisphere. It is feasible that there may be a correlation with disturbances in integration mechanisms of both hemispheres in schizophrenics.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 5 , May 1983 , pp. 477 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition). Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Beaumont, J. G. & Dimond, S. J. (1973) Brain disconnection and schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 661–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broadbent, D. E. (1971) Decision and Stress. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brooks, G. & Weaver, L. (1961) Some relations between psychiatric and psychomotor behaviour changes associated with tranquilizing medications. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2, 203–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, A. E. & Hopkins, H. K. (1967) Interaction of the auditory and visual sensory modalities. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 41, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, S. A. (1980) Interhemispheric transfer of stereognostic information in chronic schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 53–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colburn, C. J. & Lishman, W. A. (1979) Lateralization of function and psychotic illness: A left hemisphere deficit? In Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (eds. Gruzelier, J. and Flor-Henry, P.). Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press.Google Scholar
Dimond, S. J. (1976) Depletion of attentional capacity after total commissurotomy in man. Brain, 99, 347–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flor-Henry, P. (1976) Lateralized temporal-limbic dysfunction and psychopathology. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 280, 777–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, P. (1978) Defective interhemispheric transfer in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 472–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruzelier, J. & Hammond, N. (1976) Schizophrenia: A dominant temporal-limbic disorder. Research Communication in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, 1, 33–72.Google Scholar
Gur, R. E. (1978) Left hemisphere dysfunction and left hemisphere overactivation in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 226–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammond, N. & Gruzelier, J. (1978) Laterality, attention and rate effects in the auditory temporal discrimination of chronic schizophrenics. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 30, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Held, J. M., Cromwell, R. L., Frank, E. J. Jr. & Fann, W. E. (1970) Effect of phenothiazines on reaction time in schizophrenics. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 7, 209–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirsky, A. F. & Kornetsky, C. (1964) On the dissimilar effects of drugs on the Digit Symbol Substitution and Continuous Performance Tests. Psychopharmacologia, 5, 161–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orzack, M. H. & Kornetsky, C. (1966) Attention dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 14, 323–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pribram, K. H. & McGuiness, D. (1975) Arousal, activation, and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review, 82, 116–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rappaport, M., Hopkins, H. K., Silverman, J. & Hall, K. (1972) Auditory signal detection in schizophrenics. Psychopharmacologia, 24, 6–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sphon, H. E., Lacoursiere, R. B., Thompson, K. & Coyne, L. (1977) Phenothiazine effects on psychological and psychophysiological dysfunction in chronic schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 633–44.Google Scholar
Wohlberg, G. W. & Kornetsky, C. (1973) Sustained attention in remitted schizophrenics. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 533–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.