Schizophrenic and paranoid thinking in conceptual performance

Abstract

Thirty-two hospitalized patients diagnosed as schizophrenic were assigned in equal numbers to four groups on the basis of their scores on the Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST) and the paranoid (Pal scale of the MMPI. Subjects attempted to solve two conceptformation problems in which they were to identify relevant stimulus attributes, under two levels of demand on their memories for previous stimuli. Only in conjunction with a low score on the Pa scale did the schizophrenic index predict a conceptual deficit. Only the high-WIST, low-Pa group differed significantly from a control group of normal subjects. This result qualifies earlier research concerning the power of the WIST to predict logical performance. No difference was found between the two levels of memory demand.Conceptual behavior may be broadly defined as the collection of skills and knowledge that allows people to recognize regularities among objects and events, and to use those regularities to organize their cognitive representations of the world. Recent research (Bourne, Justesen , Abraham, Beeker, Brauchi, Whitaker, & Yaroush, 1977) has shown that the conceptual skills of a sample of patients diagnosed as schizophrenic varied as a function of the severity of schizophrenic thinking, as measured by the Whitaker Index of Schizophrenic Thinking (WIST) (Whitaker , 1973) .The WIST is a short (25-item) objective test that measures the illogicality of subjects' associations to single words, word pairs, and sentences that describe hypothetical inventions. Higher WIST indices indicate greater disturbance of thinking. In general, those patients who made unusual associations to the verbal stimuli on the WIST alsu failed to understand and abstract the relationship among visual stimuli required by a conceptual rule-learning task. Conspicuous,

Standardization of the Whitaker index of schizophrenic thinking (WIST) in a Mexican population: A multivariable study

“…Of the 40 schizophrenic subjects, 17 were diagnosed as paranoid and 14 of these obtained the lowest Indices on the WIST, compared to other schizophrenic patients. This finding supports the Simpson et al (1979) study, which concluded that paranoid schizophrenics are better preserved cognitively than nonparanoid patients who are equally schizophrenic.…”

Schizophrenic thinking and neuroleptic dosage

“…The finding that schizophrenic thinking does not appear to be related to neuroleptic dosage as measured by the WIST, MMS, and SCS supports numerous previous findings (Pishkin et al, 1977;Neborsky et al, 1981;Simpson et al, 1979;Tune et al, 1980). Furthermore, it extends these findings because the present study attempted to alleviate several of the design limitations in the earlier studies reviewed.…”

“…Pishkin, Lovallo, Lenk, and Bourne (1977) reported that drug dosage and cognitive performance were not related when schizophrenics were grouped according to the WIST Index or the total score on the WIST. Simpson, Bourne, Justesen, and Rhodes (1979) reported similar findings in a study that focused on conceptual performance. The results of the study indicated that WIST total score or Index correlated --06 with drug dosage.…”

“…Additionally, while the Pishkin et al (1977), Simpson et al (1979), and Dobson and Neufeld (1980) studies did use more appropriate dependent measures, none of the studies focused exclusively on the role of neuroleptics on schizophrenic thinking, and such variables as chronicity and improvement were not taken into account. Thus, regardless of the efficacy of the dependent measure used in these studies, design complications may have given rise to the disparity in findings.…”

Relationship of activity and morale levels to institutionalization among aging schizophrenics

“…Pishkin and Bourne (1981) caution that their findings apply to chronic undifferentiated schizophrenics and may not apply to schizophrenics in gen eral. Paranoid schizophrenics performed better on rule based problems than did non-paranoid schizophrenics in a study by Simpson et al (1979). The literature in this area is generally in agreement that schizophrenics often perform poorly on cognitive tasks, however, it is difficult to assess the significance of cognitive defects due to the heterogenous nature of the disorder, confounding effects of treatment, and differences in performance among types of schizophrenics.…”