ON THE NATURE OF WISCONSIN CARD SORTING TEST-PERFORMANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is widely report ed to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia. It has been hypothes ized that the performance deficit on the WCST in schizophrenia is rela ted to a dysfunction of the frontal lobe, specifically the dorsolatera l prefrontal cortex. This hypothesis was tested by comparing a group o f patients with schizophrenia to patients with low grade right or left frontal lobe tumors and a group of patients with non-frontal high gra de tumors. The results demonstrated a remarkable similarity in perform ance on the WCST between patients with schizophrenia and patients with right frontal lobe tumors. Patients with left frontal lobe tumors, no n-frontal tumors, and normal control subjects did not show the same pa ttern of performance. This study provides support for frontal lobe dys function in the symptomatology of schizophrenia.