Re. Lubow et al., Performance on the visual search analog of latent inhibition is modulated by an interaction between schizotypy and gender, SCHIZOPHR R, 52(3), 2001, pp. 275-287
Two experiments examined the visual search analog of latent inhibition (LI)
and the novel popout (NPO) effect in healthy humans. In Experiments 1 (n =
48) and 2 (n = 180). subjects judged the positions (left or right side of
a computer screen) of a unique target amongst a field of homogeneous distra
ctors. In both experiments, there was a strong LI effect, as indicated by l
onger response times (RT) to those displays in which the target was previou
sly a distractor and the distractors were previously the target, as compare
d with displays in which the target was novel and the distractors were prev
iously the target. NPO, faster RT to a display in which the target was nove
l on a background of familiar distractors than to a display in which both t
arget and distractors were novel, was not obtained. In Experiment 1, LI mag
nitude was not affected by gender. In Experiment 2, LI magnitude was larger
for low schizotypal females than for high schizotypal females, a result no
t obtained for males. This pattern is similar to one reported for medicated
schizophrenic out-patients (Lubow, R.E., Kaplan, O., Abramovich, P., Rudni
ck, R., Laor, N., 2000. Visual search in schizophrenics: latent inhibition
and novel popout effects. Schizophr. Res., in press). Together, these data
suggest that the LI deficits found in high schizotypal healthy subjects and
in schizophrenic patients represent a dysfunction that is characterized by
an inability to reduce attention allocated to irrelevant stimuli, and that
this may serve as a trait marker for some subtypes of schizophrenia, parti
cularly those associated with female gender. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
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