Fractionation of Verbal Memory Impairment in Schizophrenia and Schizophreniform Psychosis

Objectives: The characterization, aetiology, and course of verbal memory deficits in schizophrenia remain ill defined. The impact of antipsychotic medications is also unclear. The purpose of the present paper was to investigate verbal memory performance in established schizophrenia (SZ) and first-ep...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry 2007-09, Vol.41 (9), p.732-739
Main Authors: Wood, Stephen J., Tarnawski, Aleks U., Proffitt, Tina M., Brewer, Warrick J., Savage, Greg R., Anderson, Vicki, McGorry, Patrick D., Velakoulis, Dennis, Pantelis, Christos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Humans
Logic
Male
Medical sciences
Memory Disorders - diagnosis
Memory Disorders - psychology
Memory, Short-Term
Neuropharmacology
Paired-Associate Learning
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psycholeptics: tranquillizer, neuroleptic
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Psychoses
Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis
Psychotic Disorders - psychology
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - diagnosis
Schizophrenic Psychology
Verbal Learning
Wechsler Scales
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Summary:Objectives: The characterization, aetiology, and course of verbal memory deficits in schizophrenia remain ill defined. The impact of antipsychotic medications is also unclear. The purpose of the present paper was to investigate verbal memory performance in established schizophrenia (SZ) and first-episode schizophreniform psychosis (FE). Method: Performances of 32 SZ and 33 FE patients were compared to those of 47 healthy volunteers on measures of verbal working memory, verbal associative learning and story recall. Results: Story recall deficits, but not deficits in working memory or paired associate learning, were demonstrated by both patient groups. Patients treated with typical neuroleptics had more impairment in associative learning with arbitrary word pairings than those treated with atypicals, regardless of patient group. Conclusions: The results are consistent with the notion that some neuropsychological impairment is present at the time of psychosis onset and that this impairment is non-progressive. However, deficits may be specific to subclasses of memory function.
ISSN:0004-8674
1440-1614
DOI:10.1080/00048670701517926