COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY OF SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS

The aim of the paper is to determine precisely the conceptual organization characteristics expressed in cognitive complexity. This would provide for an application of specific therapeutic techniques for the sake of compensating for the primary cognitive deficit.The paper presents an examination of cognitive complexity in schizophrenic patients in comparison with a group of normal subjects by applying the test of role playing. The test is carried out in the phase of the presence of psychotic symptoms and after its withdrawal.The results show that there is neither in the first nor in the second measurement any significant difference in the cognitive complexity score between the schizophrenic and the normal subjects.The cognitive complexity reflects the formal potential of the conceptual organization to differentiate meanings. The schizophrenic patients' inability to achieve the real meaning along with the potential for the formally.differentiated conceptual organization point to the weakness of the conceptual organization that is manifested in inconsistency.