| |
Abstract:
Abstract: The present research examined two components of
visual orienting in medicated schizophrenia patients: the validity
effect and the inhibition of return (IOR). In the first experiment
patients showed the expected asymmetry in orienting attention,
i.e., larger validity effect in the right visual field than in the
left. However, this asymmetry was due to a deficit in inhibitory
processes rather than a disengagement deficit. In addition,
patients showed a deficit in IOR. In the second experiment we used
a second central cue for summoning attention, explicitly, back to
the center. In this experiment we found normal IOR in schizophrenia
patients. We suggest that IOR could not be observed in the first
experiment because of the increased facilitation in that location.
We propose that the abnormality in visual attention in
schizophrenia is due to a deficit in inhibitory processes, probably
because of frontal lobe damage.
|
