Pupillary Responses as a Biomarker of Diminished Effort Associated With Defeatist Attitudes and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The hypothesis that defeatist performance attitudes are associated with decreased goal-directed task effort and negative symptoms in consumers with schizophrenia was investigated by using pupillary responses as a biomarker of task effort. Pupillary dilation during cognitive tasks provides a biomarker of effort devoted to the task, with greater dilation indicating greater effort.

Methods

Defeatist attitudes were assessed in 149 consumers with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 50 healthy control subjects, and consumers were divided into three groups (tertile split) with respect to severity of defeatist attitudes. Pupillary dilation responses were recorded during a digit-span task with three-, six-, and nine-digit spans.

Results

Effort allocation (

SUBMITTER: Granholm E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4792801 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature