ASSESSMENT OF A COMPUTER-BASED ATTENTION TRAINING WITH SCHIZOPHRENIC-PATIENTS

Recent years witnessed a considerable proliferation of computer-based training programmes as instruments of cognitive rehabilitation for sch izophrenic patients. A study on the effects of a 3-week computer-based attention training with schizophrenic patients is presented. The Span of Apprehension and the Continuous Performance Test (CTP) were carrie d out before und after the training period. Performance improvements w ere found only on few attention training tasks. Schizophrenics had hig her post-treatment hit rates on the Span of Apprehension, but no post- treatment improvements were observed in the CPT. Performance of traine d patients in the external attention measures was not superior to perf ormance of matched schizophrenic control patients. These data suggest that brief intensive computer-based attention remediation does not lea d to enhanced attentional capacity in schizophrenia. Thus, it might be more adequate to teach behavioural strategies that bypass attention d eficits or to offer programmes for exercising more complex cognitive s kills than to try to remedy basic cognitive impairments.