TIME ESTIMATION AMONG SCHIZOPHRENICS

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Abstract
Studies of time estimation among schizophrenics have sometimes been difficult to integrate with one another because of differing methodologies and inconsistent definitions. The present study should increase clarity by employing several methods of time estimation within the same study and maintaining a consistent definitin of overestimation and underestimation across tasks. Twenty-six schizophrenic and 26 control human subjects were given 3 types of time-estimation tasks. Longer interval estimation involved judging, at different points in the interview/testing session, how much time had passed. Verbal estimation required subjects to judge the length of brief intervals signalled by the examiner. Operative estimation required subjects to indicate when a specified number of seconds had passed. Schizophrenic subjects were significantly more inaccurate than controls in the verbal and operative estimation tasks. With overestimation defined consistently as judging more time to have passed than actually has, verbal and operative estimation results indicated schizophrenics were significantly more likely to overestimate. Apparently, schizophrenics have a disturbed sense of time, with real (clock) time experienced as passing more slowly than is actually the case. Long interval estimation produced quite different results, but it was felt that the retrospective and unfocused nature of the time judgments in this task made it a less valid indicator of ability to estimate.

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