Cited by 78Schizophrenia research and treatmentPsychological and Temporal Perspectives ResearchMental Health and Psychiatry

Imagining the future: degraded representations of future rewards and events in schizophrenia

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Heerey, Erin A., Matveeva, Tatyana M., Gold, James M.·2011·Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Abstract

Over the course of life, most people work toward temporally distant rewards such as university degrees or work-related promotions. In contrast, many people with schizophrenia show deficits in behavior oriented toward long-term rewards, although they function adequately when rewards are more immediately present. Moreover, when asked about possible future events, individuals with schizophrenia show foreshortened future time perspectives relative to healthy individuals. Here, we take the view that these deficits are related and can be explained by cognitive deficits. We compared the performance of participants with schizophrenia (n = 39) and healthy participants (n = 25) on tasks measuring reward discounting and future event representations. Consistent with previous research, we found that relative to healthy participants, those with schizophrenia discounted the value of future rewards more steeply. Furthermore, when asked about future events, their responses were biased toward events in the near future, relative to healthy participants' responses. Although discounting and future representations were unrelated in healthy participants, we found significant correlations across the tasks among participants with schizophrenia, as well as correlations with cognitive variables and symptoms. Further analysis showed that statistically controlling working memory eliminated group differences in task performance. Together these results suggest that the motivational deficits characteristic of schizophrenia relate to cognitive deficits affecting the ability to represent and/or evaluate distant outcomes, a finding with important implications for promoting recovery from schizophrenia.

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  1. First MB Spitzer RL Miriam G Williams JBW 2002 Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders, Research Version, Patient Edition With Psychotic Screen New York, NY Biometrics Research, New York State Psychiatric Institute

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Authors
Heerey, E. A., Matveeva, T. M., & Gold, J. M.
Affiliations
  • Bangor University (GB)
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
Venue
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Published
2011-05
Volume
120
Issue
2
Pages
483-489
ISSN
  • 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1846
OpenAlex
W2057054277
Cited by
78
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 3
FWCI
3.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH080066; R24-MH72647)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
Keywords
schizophrenia, future rewards, reward discounting, time perspective, working memory, cognitive impairment, motivational deficits, long-term planning, recovery from schizophrenia
MeSH terms
Adult, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Imagination, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Reward, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology, Time Perception

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