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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Latent inhibition (LI) refers to the retarded acquisition of a conditioned response that occurs if the subject being tested is first preexposed to the to-be-conditioned stimulus (CS) without the paired unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Because the 'irrelevance' of the to-be-conditioned stimulus is established during non-contingent preexposure, the slowed acquisition of the CS-UCS association is thought to reflect the process of overcoming this learned irrelevance. Latent inhibition has been reported to be diminished in acutely hospitalized schizophrenia patients. If acutely hospitalized schizophrenia patients are preexposed to the CS, they learn the association as fast as, and perhaps faster than, patients who are not preexposed to the CS. This finding has been interpreted as reflecting the inability of acute schizophrenia patients to ignore irrelevant stimuli. In this study, the LI paradigm was identical to the one used in previous reports of LI deficits in schizophrenia patients (Baruch et al., 1988). Latent inhibition was observed in normal control subjects (n = 73), including individuals identified as 'psychosis-prone' based on established screening criteria, and in anxiety (n = 19) and mood disorder (n = 13) patients. Learning scores (trials to criterion) in "acutely' hospitalized as well as "chronic' hospitalized schizophrenia patients (n = 45) were significantly elevated in both preexposed and non-preexposed subjects, compared to controls. Acute schizophrenia patients exhibited intact LI. Separate cohorts of acute and chronic schizophrenia patients (n = 23) and normal controls (n = 34) exhibited intact LI when tested in a new, easier-to-acquire computerized LI paradigm. These results fail to identify specific LI deficits in schizophrenia patients, and raise the possibility that previously observed LI deficits in schizophrenia patients may reflect, at least in part, performance deficits related to learning acquisition.
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PMID:Latent inhibition in schizophrenia. 879 97

This study investigates the nosological specificity and time stability of reduced facial expressivity in schizophrenia by means of objective measurement. Facial expression in an emotional interview was evaluated using the "Facial Action Coding System" in 33 acute schizophrenia patients and 23 acute depressive patients in comparison with 21 nonpatient controls, each assessed twice within 4 weeks, and in 36 partly remitted schizophrenia patients assessed twice within 3 months. Acute schizophrenia patients showed reduced facial activity especially in the upper face and in facial activity often used as communicative signs or as signs of positive emotions. As depressive patients showed a comparable pattern of facial activity, nosological specificity is questionable. This pattern remained stable in the acute illness course and was almost identical in remitted schizophrenia patients, indicating a marked time stability of attenuated facial expressivity in schizophrenia and--for the acute phase assessed--in depression.
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PMID:Facial expressivity in the course of schizophrenia and depression. 1536 10