Preserved metacognition despite impaired perception of intentionality cues in schizophrenia.

Social cognition and metacognition are frequently impaired in schizophrenia, and these impairments complicate recovery. Recent work suggests that different aspects of metacognition may not be impaired to the same degree. Furthermore, metacognition and the cognitive capacity being monitored need not be similarly impaired. Here, we assessed performance in detecting cues of intentional behaviour as well as metacognition about detecting those cues in schizophrenia. Thirty patients and controls categorized animations of moving dots into those displaying a dyadic interaction demonstrating a chase or no chase and indicated their confidence in these judgments. Perception and metacognition were assessed using signal detection theoretic measures, which were analysed using frequentist and Bayesian statistics. Patients showed a deficit compared to controls in detecting intentionality cues, but showed preserved metacognitive performance into this task. Our study reveals a selective deficit in the perception of intentionality cues, but preserved metacognitive insight into the validity of this perception. It thus appears that impairment of metacognition in schizophrenia varies across cognitive domains - metacognition should not be considered a monolithic stone that is either impaired or unimpaired.

Enabling Conducting Polymer Applications: Methods for Achieving High Molecular Weight in Chemical Oxidative Polymerization in Alkyl- and Ether-Substituted Thiophenes.

Polythiophenes (PTs) constitute a diverse array of promising materials for conducting polymer applications. However, many of the synthetic methods to produce PTs have been optimized only for the prototypical alkyl-substituted example poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Improvement of these methods beyond P3HT is key to enabling the widespread application of PTs. In this work, P3HT and two ether-substituted PTs poly(2-dodecyl-2H,3H-thieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxine) (PEDOT-C12) and poly(3,4-bis(hexyloxy)thiophene) (PBHOT) are synthesized by the FeCl3-initiated oxidative method under different conditions. Polymerization was carried out according to a common literature procedure ("reverse addition") and a modified method ("standard addition"), which differ by the solvent system and the order of addition of reagents to the reaction mixture. Gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) was performed to determine the impact of the different methods on the molecular weights (Mw) and degree of polymerization (Xw) of the polymers relative to polystyrene standards. The standard addition method produced ether-substituted PTs with higher Mw and Xw than those produced using the reverse addition method for sterically unhindered monomers. For P3HT, the highest Mw and Xw were obtained using the reverse addition method. The results show the oxidation potential of the monomer and solution has the greatest impact on the yield and Xw obtained and should be carefully considered when optimizing the reaction conditions for different monomers.