Signal detection analysis of information processing in patients receiving prophylactic lithium therapy

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Abstract
There are numerous indications in the literature that lithium may affect the processing of sensory information, but no work involving human subjects has provided a direct test of this hypothesis. The present study attempted to provide such a demonstration by carrying out a signal detection analysis of information processing in a number of subjects undergoing prophylactic treatment with lithium. It was found that lithium impaired information processing in accordance with the hypothesis. In addition, efficiency of information processing was directly related to a global clinical rating of mood state, providing further evidence in support of an information processing model of manic‐depressive illness. A relationship also noted between mood state and response bias suggested that there may be two quite distinct psychological mechanisms underlying affective dysfunction, and that these might relate to the lithium responder‐non‐responder dichotomy.

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