The relationship of positive/negative symptomatology in schizophrenia to performance on neuropsychological measures of attention and psychomotor function

An attentional deficit has long been considered a core feature of schizophrenia. Over the years, attention as a concept has been more clearly delineated. Also, numerous attempts have been made to subtype schizophrenia as it ia doubtful that this disorder is a homogeneous entity. Recently, schizophrenia has been dichotomized into positive and negative symptom constellations. This diagnostic schemata has received growing research attention and may offer greater homogeneity and a comprehensive conceptualization of the research in the field. The purpose of this study was to explore what kinds of attentional deficits may be distinctly related to either the positive or the negative symptom categories.