COVERT VISUAL-ATTENTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM PERSONALITY DISORDERED SUBJECTS - VISUOSPATIAL CUEING AND ALERTING EFFECTS

A recent study observed lateralized deficit in the disengagement of co vert visual attention in schizophrenic patients. Subsequent attempts t o replicate this finding have had mixed results. Differences in the ne uroleptic treatment or other secondary factors associated with schizop hrenia are some of the possible reasons for these inconsistent finding s. In this study, we examined the ability to shift covert visual atten tion in neuroleptic-naive, schizophrenia spectrum personality disorder ed (SSPD; n = 35) subjects and normal controls (N = 34) under a variet y of spatial cuing and alerting conditions. We hypothesized that SSPD subjects would have difficulty with disengagement of covert visual att ention from an invalidly cued left visual field when the target appear ed in the right visual field in comparison to the normal subjects. As predicted, schizophrenia spectrum personality disordered subjects had significantly longer latencies for the right visual field invalid targ ets than normals (p = .014). Under the remaining cue conditions, spect rum subjects performed normally. Consequently, the cost of left visual field invalid cueing for the right visual field target was significan tly higher in spectrum personality subjects than in normals. The cost for the invalid right visual field cue and the benefits of valid cue i n both fields were very similar in the two groups. The findings of an asymmetrical deficit in the disengagement and shift of covert visual a ttention in schizophrenia spectrum subjects are similar to the one's o bserved in patients with unilateral left hemisphere lesions. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.