and Attention Dysfunctions in Schizophrenia

processing have played a central role in understanding schizo-phrenia since the time of Kraepelin and Bleuler. Clearly, schizophrenia spectrum patients have profound problems focusing attention on salient cues and overcoming the disrupting effects of distracting stimuli. Theoreti-cally, such patients are rendered vulnerable to stimulus inunda-tion, cognitive fragmentation, and thought disorder induced by this inability to adequately proc-ess self-generated cognitive cues and stimuli from the complex world that surrounds us. Adding to the strength of such theories, investigators have made consid-erable progress in clarifying the functional significance and neurobiological basis of information-processing/attentional dysfunctions. This article focuses on our understanding of infor-mation-processing/attentional dys-functions in schizophrenia. The relevant material will be pre-sented in four parts: (1) an over-view; (2) a review of specific, conceptual issues in information-processing research of the group of schizophrenias, including the roles of antipsychotic medica-tions and generalized versus spe-cific deficits; (3) a review of 10 common techniques used to tap the information processing and attention dysfunctions of schizo-phrenia patients; recent advances and novel applications of these techniques in "boundary " popu-lations such as high-risk children and schizotypal patients are dis-cussed and psychopharmacologi-cal probes, animal models, and basic strategies are also re-viewed; and (4) an integration and suggestions for future direc-tions in information-processing/ attention research in schizo-phrenia. Overall, information-processing research provides an important viewpoint from which we can understand the group of schizophrenias