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Impairments of response conflict monitoring and resolution in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2002

M. YÜCEL ,
C. VOLKER ,
A. COLLIE ,
P. MARUFF ,
J. DANCKERT ,
D. VELAKOULIS  and
C. PANTELIS
M. YÜCEL
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
C. VOLKER
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
A. COLLIE
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
P. MARUFF
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
J. DANCKERT
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
D. VELAKOULIS
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
C. PANTELIS
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Research and Academic Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Sunshine Hospital, St Albans and Applied Schizophrenia Division and Neuropsychology Laboratory, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Neuro- and Rehabilitation Psychology, Catholic University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Vision and Motor Research Laboratory, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract

Background. It has been argued recently that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia occurs as a result of an inability to inhibit automatic attentional shifts to compelling external stimuli. However, this hypothesis is based on performance on paradigms that require overt or covert shifts of spatial attention.

Method. We investigated responses to foveally presented stimuli in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls as they performed unidimensional and bidimensional versions of the flanker task. In both tasks, centrally presented target stimuli were flanked by peripheral stimuli that were either congruent or incongruent with the behavioural goal of the subject. In the bidimensional task, the flanking stimuli could be congruent and incongruent on multiple stimulus characteristics.

Results. On the unidimensional flanker task, the behavioural goal modulated the responses of the schizophrenia group such that response times (RTs) to target stimuli that were flanked by congruent stimuli were faster than RTs to target stimuli flanked by incongruent stimuli. However, on the bidimensional flanker task, the responses of schizophrenia patients were no longer constrained by the behavioural goal and RTs to both congruent and incongruent stimuli were equivalent.

Conclusions. It appears that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia may reflect difficulty in resolving multiple and simultaneous response conflicts. These findings suggest a possible role for the anterior cingulate cortex in the attentional impairments associated with schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 32 , Issue 7 , October 2002 , pp. 1251 - 1260
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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