Decrements in sustained attention across trials in a continuous performance test: Associations with social functioning in schizophrenia

Deficits in attention are a stable feature of schizophrenia and likely to interfere with social function. In this study, we explored whether 2 types of attentional dysfunction, increasingly variable and declining reaction times over the course of a continuous performance task, were linked to psychosocial deficits. Participants were 102 adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in ongoing outpatient treatment. Concurrent assessments included the Conners' Continuous Performance Test II, the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Analysis of covariance controlling for global performance on the Continuous Performance test suggested that participants with a pattern of increasingly variable performance on the task (n = 14) reported being more domineering and taken advantage of socially, than those whose performance was less variable (n = 88). No differences were found between groups for assessments of coping or between participants who showed a declining vs non-declining reaction time. Copyright © 2010 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.