Span of Apprehension among Remitted Schizophrenics Using Small Visual Angles

Evidence concerning span of apprehension (SOA) performance as a potential marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia has been the subject of several recent investigations. There is agreement that earlier findings of performance deficits among offspring of schizophrenics and among schizophrenics in remission may not extend to more foveal, as opposed to peripheral, presentations of visual arrays of the SOA task. Using the former format of presentation, the current study found that performance of episodic patients was distinguishable from that of nonpatient controls but performance of remitted patients was not. Readings of psychophysiological activity (heart rate) obtained during SOA task performance were higher among episodic patients than among others, suggesting that such measures may be promising markers of episodes of schizophrenia.