Effects of Content Verbalness and Intangibility on Schizophrenics' Deficits in Abstract Thinking

Abstract

Earlier research has suggested that schizophrenics' deficits on conceptual tasks could reflect special difficulties with verbal or intangible stimuli rather than inability to abstract correctly per se. The performance of process and reactive schizophrenics on similarities tests varying in verbalness and intangibility of stimuli was compared to that of nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients. No special deficits associated with verbal stimulus presentation or stimulus intangibility appeared in either process or reactive samples.