Schizophrenia patients show deficits in shifts of attention to different levels of global-local stimuli: evidence for magnocellular dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: Abnormalities of attention and visual perception are well documented in schizophrenia. The global-local task is a measure of attention and perceptual organization that utilizes visual stimuli comprised of large letters (global level) made up of smaller letters (local level). Subjects identify target letters appearing at either the global or local level of the stimulus. In this study, we used a version of the global-local task specifically designed to examine lateralized hemispheric processing and attention shifting in 30 schizophrenia patients and 24 normal controls. Global-local stimuli were presented in couplets (consecutive pairs). Reaction time for the second target in a couplet was compared under conditions in which the target remained at the same level (global-global, local-local) an

SUBMITTER: Coleman MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2762625 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature