Effects of cerebral hemispheric laterality on the span of apprehension of schizophrenic and healthy subjects

The effects of hemispheric laterality on a forced-choice Span of Apprehensi on (SoA) task were investigated. Forty-eight adult schizophrenic inpatients were recruited. A control group of healthy subjects was put together using the matched-pairs method with age, gender, and education as control variab les. SoA performance was determined separately for the left and right visua l field (VF), respectively. No SoA group differences were found; in both gr oups, the hit percentage was higher in the right VE However, in the schizop hrenic group, the left VF performance showed significant negative correlati ons with psychopathologic symptoms (especially auditory verbal hallucinatio ns). In a subsample of patients receiving atypical neuroleptic drugs, the d aily dosage correlated negatively with left VF performance. In general, you ng subjects performed better than old subjects (both VFs), males performed better than females, and subjects with high education performed better than subjects with low education (right VF).