Object-location memory in schizophrenia: Interference of symbolic threatening content

Introduction. Monitoring environmental stimuli for their emotional relevance is inherently associated with spatial processing. In schizophrenia, deficits in spatial working memory on one hand, and abnormal emotion processing on the other, have been documented, but these have not been related to each...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive neuropsychiatry 2006-05, Vol.11 (3), p.272-284
Main Authors: van't Wout, Mascha, Aleman, André, Kessels, Roy P. C., Kahn, René S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affect
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition Disorders - diagnosis
Cognition Disorders - epidemiology
Drug Therapy, Combination
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Memory Disorders - epidemiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Perceptual Disorders - epidemiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychoses
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - drug therapy
Schizophrenia - epidemiology
Schizophrenia - physiopathology
Space Perception - physiology
Symbolism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Introduction. Monitoring environmental stimuli for their emotional relevance is inherently associated with spatial processing. In schizophrenia, deficits in spatial working memory on one hand, and abnormal emotion processing on the other, have been documented, but these have not been related to each other. In the present study, we investigated whether a specific aspect of spatial memory (i.e., object-location memory), is impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, we hypothesised that symbolic threatening content of objects would interfere with spatial processing in patients with schizophrenia but not in healthy controls. Methods. Spatial memory for symbolic pictorial stimuli was assessed in 40 patients with schizophrenia compared to 41 healthy matched control participants using an object-relocation task. Results. Patients with schizophrenia performed worse in relocating objects, independent of overall intellectual ability. More specifically, patients were particularly worse in the relocation of objects with a symbolic threatening content. Conclusions. These results suggest that a threatening semantic emotional content of schematic stimuli can interfere with spatial processing in schizophrenia. We hypothesise that a disproportional influence of the amygdala on other brain areas, such as the hippocampus, might underlie this specific emotional interference.
ISSN:1354-6805
1464-0619
DOI:10.1080/13546800500214041