Pergamon THE ASSESSMENT OF SEQUENTIAL RESPONSE ORGANIZATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIC AND CONTROL SUBJECTS

Paulus, Martin I’., Mark A. Gcycr, and David L Braff. The Assessment of sequential response organi-zation in schixophrcnic;Itid conWol subjects. Prog. Ncuro-Psychophn1.111acoi. & f3iol. Psychiatry 1994, 1X(7): 1169-l 185. I.A novel analysis is introduced for the scqucntinl organization of bchnvioral elements derived from the crgodic theory of nonlincnr dynamical systems and statistical mechanics of physical systems. 2.This analysis yields the fluctuation spectrum of local dynamical entropies, S (/I), which quantifies the contributions of suhscq~~cnccs with different degrees of association between elements to the overall observed behavior. In addition, q-dependent order parameter functions assess the relation-ship bctwccn the dcgrcc of association between consecutive behavioral elements and qualitative aspccls of the suhscqi~cnccs. 3.A binary choice task paradigm is used to extract thought-contingent responses in order to determine the organization of srqucnccs of behavioral actions, 4.A group n schizophrenic patients and controls was tested with a binary choice task paradigm to dcterrninc the scqucntinl organization of their responses. S.Thc results intlicntc that the overall response scquenccs of both schizophrenics and controls are non-random. In addition, clear diffcrcnces in qualitative aspects between response subsequences with diffcrcnt dcgrecs of association are revealed. Finally, significant fluctuations within individual sub-jects wcrc found bctwccn highly predictable and highly unpredictable response subsequences. 6.Thesc results arc discussed with respect to dysregulations in behavioral organization that could not bc nsscssrtl previously and may provide new irlsights into the behavioral effects of the underlying dysrcgulatctl ricui~:il circui1i.y