Research of time processing disorder within the investigation of specific traits of schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction Schizophrenia is essentially related to one’s self-perception and the relationship to the world. One possible explanation for symptoms of schizophrenia in activities is the disruption of timing, which can develop into a disorder of activity perception and attribution. Objectives Our study aimed to investigate the specificity of time perception disorder within the schizophrenia-bipolar spectrum, within the time interval around one second. Methods In the study, N = 15 schizophrenic (M = 37.28 years, SD = 9.49 years), N = 9 bipolar (M = 49.44 years, SD = 8.48 years), N = 10 schizoaffective (M = 41.32 years, SD = 10.75 years) patients with compensated clinical condition and N = 28 healthy control subjects (M = 36.5 years, SD = 9.9 years) participated. Time processing was examined with a perceptual (discrimination) and a productive (synchronization) task. Results Concerning the interval discrimination, patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder lag behind controls in the majority of indicators (0.373–0.772). In terms of production and reproduction, the deviation of schizoaffective patients indicates a moderate difference, but subjects with schizophrenia show a large effect size, and subjects with bipolar disorder demonstrate a small effect size. Conclusions Our results suggest that the schizophrenic group exhibits a comprehensive time-processing disorder and in this respect can be distinguished from the bipolar affective and the control group. People with schizoaffective disorder show an intermediate performance in reproduction between the schizophrenic and bipolar groups, while in the case of discrimination deficit, they approach schizophrenics. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• subjectivity
• schizophrenia-bipolar spectrum
• interval discrimination
• interval production