Shaping Attention Span: An Operant Conditioning Procedure to Improve Neurocognition and Functioning in Schizophrenia

The high prevalence of neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia, and their association with poorer outcomes, has created interest in treatments that can improve neurocognitive functioning in this illness. While a variety of rehabilitation interventions have been developed, many are not appropriate for the most severely ill patients, whose attention spans are so short that they cannot attend to the material being presented. For this population, the only neurocognitive rehabilitation methods with demonstrated effectiveness are those that involve the operant conditioning technique known as shaping. In this article, we review the rationale for the use of shaping-based methods as neurocognitive retraining techniques for treatment-refractory schizophrenia patients, review published reports using this intervention, and offer suggestions for the future development of this method from both clinical and research perspectives.