Stop task after-effects in schizophrenia: Behavioral control adjustments and repetition priming

Abstract

Stop task after-effects are behavioral consequences of response inhibition (i.e., slowed response time), and may index both behavioral control adjustments and repetition priming. Patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls completed a stop task, and responses to the go signal were analyzed according to characteristics of the immediately preceding trial. Schizophrenia was associated with reduced slowing following unsuccessful response inhibition, however there was no evidence of impairments in repetition priming. These results support neurocognitive models of schizophrenia that suggest an absence or reduction of behavioral adjustments (perhaps reflecting impaired error detection), but are inconsistent with current retrieval-based repetition priming accounts.

Keywords:

• Reaction time
• Psychotic disorders
• Inhibition
• Neuropsychology
• Set
• Cingulate gyrus

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Michael Daffern, Dr. Lisa Forrester, Ms. Anthea Lemphers, Mr. Anthony Nicola, Dr. Neil Thomas, Ms. Jo Ryan, and Mr. Jeremy Young.