The neuropsychology of schizophrenia: Recent trends

Current Opinion in Psychiatry

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 26-29

  Rossell, Susan L ^a   David, Anthony S ^a,b  

^a KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ATTENTION; COGNITION; HUMAN; MEMORY; NEUROPSYCHOLOGY; SCHIZOPHRENIA; SHORT SURVEY; WORKING MEMORY;

EID: 0031017482     PISSN: 09517367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/00001504-199701000-00006     Document Type: Short Survey

References (39)

1. Chen EYH, Lam LCW, Chen RYL, Nguyen DGH, Chan CKY: Prefrontal neuropsychological impairment and illness duration in schizophrenia: a study of 204 patients in Hong Kong. Acta Psychiatr Scan 1996, 93:144-150. Two-hundred and four schizophrenics were divided into six different groups of illness duration and they completed an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. It was concluded that cognitive deficits are present at an early stage of the illness and do not show any deterioration as the illness progresses.
2. Cuesta MJ, Peralta V, de Leon J: Neurological frontal signs and neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Res 1996, 20:15-20.
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5. Steinberg JL, Devous MD, Paulman RG: Wisconsin card sorting activated regional cerebral blood flow in first break and chronic schizophrenic patients and normal controls. Schizophr Res 1996, 19:177-187.
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7. Keefe RSE, Lees-Roitman SE, Harvey PD, Blum CS, DuPre RL, Prieto DM, Davidson M, Davis KL: A pen-and-paper human analogue of monkey prefrontal cortex activation test: spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1995, 17:25-33.
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20. Ober BA, Vinogradov S, Shenaut GK: Semantic priming of category relations in schizophrenia. Neuropsychol 1995, 9:220-228. Schizophrenic and control individuals were compared on four semantic priming experiments. This study found no difference in semantic priming in the schizophrenic individuals, despite having slower reaction times. Interestingly, the authors also examined the effects of different semantic pair relationships, for example; typical versus atypical members of a category (in the category 'birds' an atypical would be emu and typical sparrow). Ober et al. concluded that further work needs to be completed concerning the charcteristics of semantic pair relations.
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31. Kern RS, Wallace CJ, Hellman SG, Womack LM, Green MF: Remediating performance deficits on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: an application of errorless learning principles. Schizophr Res 1996, 18:124. The authors used two groups of psychotic patients for their study, aiming to minimise errors on the WCST by using an errorless learning principle. Although training was successful and durable, the technique was very muddy (Kern, personal communication). Several training features could have benefited the patients' performance; the effects of each one were indistinguishable from each other.
32. Kern RS, Wallace CJ, Hellman SG, Womack LM, Green MF: Remediating performance deficits on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: an application of errorless learning principles. Schizophr Res 1996, 18:124. The authors used two groups of psychotic patients for their study, aiming to minimise errors on the WCST by using an errorless learning principle. Although training was successful and durable, the technique was very muddy (Kern, personal communication). Several training features could have benefited the patients' performance; the effects of each one were indistinguishable from each other.
33. Vollema MG, Geurtsen GJ, van Voorst AJP: Durable improvements in Wisconsin Card Sort test performance in schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Res 1995, 16:209-215. Cognitive training techniques were demonstrably more successful than monetary reinforcement in improving performance on the WCST.
34. Young DA, Freyslinger MA: Scaffolding instruction and the remediation of the Wisconsin Card Sort test deficits in chronic schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1995, 16:199-207. This study attempted to remediate the WCST performance of schizophrenics using the method of scaffolding. First, it was ensured that the idea of matching the cards was understood. Second, the individual needed to comprehend the significance of verbal feedback in relation to where the cards were placed. Additionally, they had to understand that the stimulus cards could match the key card on more than one category but only one of those matches was correct. Lastly, the individual was made aware that they needed to persist on one particular sorting rule and only change to another sorting category when appropriate feedback was given. The experimenter intervened at the level at which the individual was clearly making errors and was guided through, encouraged to generate their own solutions. The subgroup of patients who were trained using this method demonstrated a higher level of understanding of all the subtasks of the test, with improvements durable over time.
35. Benedict RHB, Harris AE, Marko T, McCormick JA, Neuchterlein KH, Asarnow RF: Effects of attention training on information processing in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 1994, 20:537-546.
36. Bellack AS, Mueser KT, Morrison RL, Tierney A, Podell K: Remediation of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1990, 147:1650-1655.
37. Green MF: What are the functional consequences of neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia? Am J Psychiatry 1996, 153:321-330. An excellent review of the relationship between neurocognitive deficits and functional sequele. Green concluded that verbal memory is associated with all types of functional outcome; vigilance predicts skill acquisition and social problem solving and levels of card sorting performance are related to the level of the patients community functioning.
38. Tompkins LM, Goldman RS, Axelrod BN: Modifiability of neuropsychological dysfunction in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry, 1995, 38:105-111.
39. Joyce EM, Collinson SL, Crichton P: Verbal fluency in schizophrenia: relationship with executive function, semantic fluency and clinical alogia. Psychol Med 1996, 26:39-49. In this study the authors compared verbal and semantic fluency in schizophrenic individuals. The schizophrenics were impaired on both these tasks, but did show a normal pattern of output in that category fluency was superior to verbal (letter) fluency. Eighty per cent of schizophrenics improved category fluency when cues were used. Cueing, thus, promotes access to the semantic store. These results suggest that schizophrenics do not have impoverished semantic store but fail to retrieve efficiently.