This study investigated the perceptual functioning of individuals whose Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-168) profiles indicated schizophrenic tendencies but who did not exhibit marked thought disorder. The MMPI 2-7-8 code type was used to identify these subjects from a large pool of college students. This group was compared on a backward visual masking task with two control groups: one whose profiles were inflation free and another whose profiles showed elevations on any two scales except the Schizophrenia <(Sc) scale. Critical interstimulus interval (ISI) was used as the dependent measure. The 2-7-8 group required significantly longer critical ISI to recognize target letters than did the inflation-free group. Regression analysis showed that for the group which showed inflations on any two scales except Sc, Sc was a statistically significant predictor of critical ISI. It is concluded that a deficit exists at a very early stage in the visual information processing system of the 2-7-8 group.

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