Heterogeneity of multitasking abilities in schizophrenia.

Difficulties in everyday life activities are core features of persons diagnosed with schizophrenia, and in particular for those activities requiring multitasking capacities. Multitasking refers to activities (e.g. preparing a meal) where the person has to: (a) carry out and alternate between different tasks that vary in terms of priority, difficulty and duration; (b) define the tasks’ targets; (c) and face unexpected problems during the realization of these tasks. Moreover, schizophrenia is characterized by a great heterogeneity in regard to their everyday life difficulties and cognitive functioning.
At present, patients’ multitasking capacities have not been adequately examined in the literature due to an absence of suitable assessment strategies. We thus recently developed a computerized real-life activity task designed to take into account the complex and multitasking nature of certain everyday life activities where participants are required to prepare a room for a meeting (i.e. the Computerized Meeting Preparation Task, CMPT).
The aim of this study was to examine the multitasking abilities in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia and in particular the existence of subgroups of patients in regard to their performances on cognitive measures and on the CMPT.
Sixty-two patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 39 paired healthy controls completed the CMPT and a cognitive battery.
The results reveal that the CMPT possesses good sensitivity and suggest three underlying constructs of multitasking (Memory, Planning and Intent), which were found to be underpinned by several cognitive functions and multitasking aspects.
Moreover, cluster analyses revealed subgroups of patients differing in terms of their cognitive and CMPT performances.
Taken together, these results show the need for a cognitive model of multitasking abilities in persons diagnosed with schiozphrenia. Taken together, this cognitive model and the CMPT, could be a good basis for cognitive interventions of multitasking abilities in schizophrenia. Finally, the results underline the heterogeneity of schizophrenia.