NEUROLOGICAL SOFT SIGNS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - ARE THEY RELATED TO NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE SYMPTOMS, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE, AND VIOLENCE

This investigation was carried out on 31 unemployed schizophrenic outp atient men The general purpose was to explore new aspects of neurologi cal soft signs in schizophrenia. A 108-item version of the Nathan Klin e institute scale of soft signs, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia psychiatric interview, the negative and positive sym ptom scale (PANSS) a comprehensive scale of life-time history of viole nce, and a large set of neuropsychological rests were administered. It was found that ''motor'' soft signs were significantly more prevalent than ''sensory-perceptual'' signs, but that each body side manifested equal numbers of neurological signs. Before and after statistical cor rection for age, education, alcoholism drug abuse disorder; and daily and cumulative neuroleptic dosage, orbitofrontal-type neuropsychologic al tasks measuring ''impulsivity'' related very robustly to the soft s igns. Furthermore, before and after the same statistical corrections, right body-side signs correlated significantly with the same neuropsyc hological tests, whereas left body-side signs did not. The PANSS score s and levels of lifetime violence generally did not correlate signific antly with neurological soft signs. The latter negative findings, we t hink relate to the fact that these were relatively high-functioning (i .e., outpatient) schizophrenics. Overall, the results support notions of frontal lobe and left hemisphere involvement in schizophrenia, thes e two dysfunctional systems being apparently linked at the level of th e orbitofrontal area of the brain.