Distance Constancy in Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Recent research has shown that constancy of perception breaks down in schizophrenics. Size constancy in these patients has been investigated by Raush (13, 14), Weckowicz (16), and Crookes (2). Raush found that paranoid schizophrenics had increased size constancy compared with normals and other schizophrenics. He predicted that in other types of schizophrenia size constancy might be poorer than in normals. However the difference he found was not statistically significant. Weckowicz found that chronic hospitalized schizophrenics had poorer size constancy than other hospitalized patients and normals. These two investigators determined size constancy by instructing the subjects to adjust the size of an object (a rod or a square) to the size of a standard object at a distance. Crookes used a direct method. His subjects were instructed to reproduce the size of the image of the standard object seen at a distance and not the size of the object itself. He came to the same conclusion as Weckowicz that size constancy in schizophrenic patients was impaired.