This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Herbert E. Spohn, PhD; Roy B. Lacoursiere, MD; Karen Thompson, RN; Lolafaye Coyne, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1977;34(6):633-644.

Abstract
• This study examined the effects of phenothiazine treatment on attentional-perceptual, cognitive, and psychophysiological dysfunction in chronic schizophrenics. Under double-blind conditions, 20 patients receiving chlorpromazine and 20 receiving placebo for eight weeks were tested by performance measures, clinically rated, and monitored for skin resistance and heart rate on four occasions.

Phenothiazine effects on measures of attention-perception and on psychophysiological response were demonstrable, but not on tests and ratings of cognitive dysfunction. The direction of effects was toward normalization of function. Drug treatment tended to improve ability to sustain set, to increase efficiency of selective attention, and to increase rate of information processing. Autonomic reactivity was reduced and a deactivation effect suggested. Clinical improvement was correlated with reduction in attentional dysfunction.

The results are discussed in terms of their implications for hypothesized behavioral mechanisms of drug action, primary "behavioral site" of drug action, therapeutic response measurement, and functional theories of schizophrenic psychopathology.

Author Affiliations
From the Research Department, The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kan.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Jan 4, 1977.

Reprint requests to The Menninger Foundation, Box 829, Topeka, KS 66601 (Dr Spohn).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia: Neurocognitive Endophenotypes
Gur et al.
Schizophr Bull 2007;33:49-68.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Early Visual Sensory Deficits as Endophenotypes for Schizophrenia: High-Density Electrical Mapping in Clinically Unaffected First-Degree Relatives.
Yeap et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006;63:1180-1188.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Filling-in in Schizophrenia: a High-density Electrical Mapping and Source-analysis Investigation of Illusory Contour Processing
Foxe et al.
Cereb Cortex 2005;15:1914-1927.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Schizophrenia
Freedman
NEJM 2003;349:1738-1749.
FULL TEXT  

Impaired Visual Object Recognition and Dorsal/Ventral Stream Interaction in Schizophrenia
Doniger et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002;59:1011-1020.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Impaired Sensory Processing as a Basis for Object-Recognition Deficits in Schizophrenia
Doniger et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2001;158:1818-1826.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neuroleptic Withdrawal in Schizophrenic Patients: A Review of the Literature
Gilbert et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1995;52:173-188.
ABSTRACT  

The Generalized Pattern of Neuropsychological Deficits in Outpatients With Chronic Schizophrenia With Heterogeneous Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Results
Braff et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1991;48:891-898.
ABSTRACT  

A Pilot Study of Haloperidol Treatment of Psychosis and Behavioral Disturbance in Alzheimer's Disease
Devanand et al.
Arch Neurol 1989;46:854-857.
ABSTRACT  

Differential Effect of Low and Conventional Doses of Fluphenazine on Schizophrenic Outpatients With Good or Poor Information-Processing Abilities
Asarnow et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988;45:822-826.
ABSTRACT  

Methylphenidate-Induced Information Processing Dysfunction in Nonschizophrenic Patients
Braff and Huey
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988;45:827-832.
ABSTRACT  

Relation of Neuroleptic Dose and Tardive Dyskinesia to Attention, Information-Processing, and Psychophysiology in Medicated Schizophrenics
Spohn et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1985;42:849-859.
ABSTRACT  

Deficits in Sensory Gating in Schizophrenic Patients and Their Relatives: Evidence Obtained With Auditory Evoked Responses
Siegel et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984;41:607-612.
ABSTRACT  

Altered P300 Topography in Schizophrenia
Morstyn et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:729-734.
ABSTRACT  

Span of Apprehension Deficits During the Postpsychotic Stages of Schizophrenia: A Replication and Extension
Asarnow and MacCrimmon
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1981;38:1006-1011.
ABSTRACT  

Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Acute Schizophrenia: I. Method and Comparison With Normal Controls
Zahn et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1981;38:251-258.
ABSTRACT  

Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Acute Schizophrenia: II. Relationships to Short-term Prognosis and Clinical State
Zahn et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1981;38:260-266.
ABSTRACT  

Psychiatry
Freedman
JAMA 1978;239:510-512.