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Laterality in schizophrenia

A reaction time study

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Summary

A laterality study in schizophrenia was carried out by measuring reaction time (RT) in a baseline condition and while subjects were engaged in a concurrent task. In the baseline condition, a clinical measure of psychoticism was associated with differential slowing with the right hand in schizophrenic dextrals but not in a control group of affective dextrals. The concurrent task suppressed the effect of psychoticism on RT performance. The results suggest that left-hemisphere deficits in schizophrenia are state dependent, and so not necessarily due to cortical dysfunction.

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From a doctoral thesis completed at the New School for Social Research

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Fishman, J., Schwartz, F., Bertuch, E. et al. Laterality in schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Nuerosci 241, 126–130 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02191156

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