Problem-solving ability in chronic schizophrenia: a comparison study

Abstract

Patients with schizophrenia have been shown to be more prone to impairment in planning and problem-solving as compared with normal controls. However, very few studies compare these types of patients with other disease groups with similar impairment but different pathological mechanisms. In this study, we explored the problem-solving ability in chronic schizophrenic patients and patients suffering from traumatic brain injury ŽTBI. by administering the Tower of Hanoi ŽTOH. task. A total of 153 Ž51 in each group., matched for age, education and sex were recruited. Two way 3 (group) = 6 (complexity) ANOVAs demonstrated that significant main effects of group and complexity were observed in number of moves, planning time to initiate the first move and subsequent execution time. The general performance of TOH in patients with schizophrenia was very similar to that of patients with TBI suggesting that an overall deficit of problem-solving ability in these patients. Subsequent comparisons of sub-groups of frontal and posterior lobe lesions, however, indicated the pattern of performance in schizophrenic patients was somewhat in between them. Significant but modest correlations were also demonstrated between general psychopathology and TOH profile score (r = -0.339, p = 0.028) as well as positive symptom and TOH planning time (r = 0.401, p = 0.008) in schizophrenic patients. These findings suggest that either focal lesion in frontal or temporal lobe is a sufficient explanation for the problem-solving deficits in patients with schizophrenia.