Information processing and neuroleptic response in acute and stabilized schizophrenic patients.

Information processing was measured in 13 acute and 18 stabilized schizophrenic patients using the span of apprehension task. Acutely disturbed patients demonstrated improved performance on this task after 14 days of treatment with haloperidol. Stabilized patients maintained on fluphenazine decanoate did not show a significant change in performance during 3 months of treatment. Among the acutely disturbed patients, those with good baseline performance or the greatest initial improvement on the span of apprehension task showed the greatest reduction in various aspects of schizophrenic thought disturbance in response to drug treatment. These preliminary results suggest that information-processing measures may be useful in defining clinically meaningful subtypes in schizophrenia.