Situational Familiarity and Feature Recognition in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Research has shown that schizophrenia patients are less able to identify a situation's abstract features (goals) than its concrete features (actions). However, it has been unclear whether this differential deficit represents a cognitive dysfunction or a lack of familiarity with many situations because of impoverished social experiences. Twenty-nine inpatients with DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia completed the Situational Feature Recognition Test, Version 2 (SFRT-2). The SFRT-2 included familiar and unfamiliar situations of which subjects were asked to identify characteristic goals and actions. A 2 x 2 x 2 analysis of variance (group by feature abstraction by situational familiarity) found a significant three-way interaction. Post-hoc analyses suggested that patients were better able to recognize concrete features in familiar situations. Differences in discriminating power of the four conditions of the SFRT-2 had been diminished on standardization and cross-validation groups. Therefore, the differential deficits shown by the patient sample probably do not represent psychometric confound. Implications for remediation of social cognitive deficits are discussed.

The paradox of self-stigma and mental illness.

“…However, many people with serious mental illness have social‐cognitive deficits that interfere with the accurate perception of these kind of external cues (Corrigan & Penn, in press). These perceptual deficits are especially marked on more abstract social tasks such as inferring the rules and roles that define an interpersonal interaction (Corrigan, Silverman, Stephenson, Nugent‐Hirschbeck, & Buican, 1996; Corrigan & Green, 1993; Corrigan & Nelson, 1998). Social‐perceptual deficits may impair the person's recognition of stigma, perhaps serving as a buffer to self‐stigma in the process.…”

Developmental Theory for a Cognitive Enhancement Therapy of Schizophrenia

“…Our focus on social cognition as a potential rate-limiting factor to social and vocational recovery in schizophrenia arose from observations in our clinical experience with schizophrenia patients that appear to have growing empirical support (Corrigan et al 1996 b ). Many patients appeared to have become affectively and cognitively dysregulated by unpredictable changes in novel (untrained) social contexts and by a resulting inability to get “the big picture” regarding the nuances of interpersonal relationships and expected behavior (i.e., secondary socialization problems in context appraisal and perspective taking).…”

“…Corrigan and Green (1993 b ) further cite patient recognition of concrete rather than abstract situational features of social contexts that govern appropriate behavior. Moreover, continuing studies suggest that these abstracting deficits might be influenced by the “unfamiliar” social situations that patients find “uncomfortable,” another important directive for social cognitive rehabilitation (Corrigan et al 1996 b ). Further, affect perception among chronic schizophrenia patients is also thought to be impaired (Mueser et al 1997), as is social knowledge, which has been described as social naiveté (Cutting and Murphy 1990), the converse of interpersonal wisdom.…”

Social cognition in schizophrenia

“…The SFRT total score range from 0 to 1. The formula to calculate the total score is fully described in a Corrigan et al (1996). 12 Higher scores indicate better social knowledge.…”