PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS: SCHIZOPHRENIA The role of attention in affect perception: an examination of Mirsky’s four-factor model of attention in chronic schizophrenia

This purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between affect perception and attention using Mirsky’s (1991) four-factor model of attention with a sample of 55 persons with chronic schizophrenia. Mirsky’s four-factor model postulates that attention is based on four independent factors labeled (1) Shift, (2) Sustain, (3) Focus-Execute, and (4) Encode. It has been argued that deficits in affect perception in persons with schizophrenia may actually be due to problems in attention, and these problems are more related to cognitive variables than social ones (Bellack, 1992). The information obtained in this study will provide further data on the role of attention in affect perception. Since different factors of attention can be selectively impaired (Mirsky et al., 1991) in different diagnostic and psychiatric groups, the present study will explore which factor of attention is most crucial for affect perception. Participants will include persons with schizophrenia who were selected from three large state hospital settings in Louisiana. Attention will be assessed with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Shift), the UCLA Continuous Performance Test (Sustain), the Trail Making Test and DigitSymbol Coding test (Focus-Execute), and the Digit Span and Arithmetic test (Span). Affect perception will be assessed using the Facial Emotion Identification Test and the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test. This study will also examine the relationship between psychiatric symptom levels (BPRS), medication dosage, and other neurocognitive tasks (Test of Facial Recognition and Controlled Oral Word Association Test) in order to clarify the relationship between attention and affect perception.