Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1006-1011
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Sensory input deficits and negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients
DL Braff
University of California, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, La Jolla 92093.
The information-processing correlates of positive and negative symptoms in
schizophrenic patients are of increasing clinical research interest. The
author tested 40 schizophrenic patients and 35 normal control subjects and
reports on two major findings. First, patients with negative symptoms had
dramatic inflations of stimulus recognition thresholds, similar to the
deficits previously reported in patients with head injuries resulting in
organic brain syndromes. Second, the schizophrenic patients had deficits in
the time-dependent processing of information. Collectively, these data
support the link between negative symptoms and multiple levels of
information-processing abnormalities in patients with schizophrenic
disorders.
