Comparative Neurobiological and Neuropsychological Deficits in Adolescent and Adult Schizophrenic and Nonschizophrenic Patients

Abstract

A group of 24 adolescents and young adults were classified according to four measures using Research Diagnostic Criteria on the dimension of the severity of their schizophrenic syndrome. Independent assessments by the Gottschalk-Gleser Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization Scale and the Abrams-Taylor Emotional Blunting Scale corroborated that the definite schizophrenic group (n = 7) was significantly more schizophrenic than the not schizophrenic group (n = 12), but not more so than the probably schizophrenic group (n = 5). The Halstead-Reitan Category Test and Rhythm Test significantly differentiated the definite schizophrenic group from the not schizophrenic group with respect to cognitive impairment. The Gottschalk-Gleser Cognitive Impairment Scale did not indicate a significant difference in cognitive function between these patient groups. The computerized EEG revealed a significantly higher percent of EEG abnormalities among the definite and probably schizophrenic groups than the not schizophrenic group of patients. These findings are analyzed and discussed.

The development, validation, and applications of a computerized measurement of cognitive impairment from the content analysis of verbal behavior

“…Although the Cognitive Impairment Scale initially was derived from verbal categories used in a scale to assess the relative severity of the schizophrenic syndrome, namely, the Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization Scale (Gottschalk & Gleser, 1969), the verbal categories selected and the weights assigned to these verbal categories selected for use with the Cognitive Impairment Scale aimed to maximize the difference between the cognitive disorder associated with the schizophrenic syndrome and other proven organic disorders of brain function. In a study of mentally disordered drug-free adolescents and young adults ( N = 24) who ranged in severity from "not schizophrenic" (n = 12) through "probable schizophrenic" (n = 5 ) to "definite schizophrenic" (n = 7), the Gottschalk-Gleser Cognitive Impairment scale did not indicate a significant difference in cognitive function among these three groups of patients (Gottschalk & Selin, 1991). However, the Halstead-Reitan Category Test and Rhythm Test (Reitan & Davison, 1974) significantly differentiated the "definite schizophrenic" group from the "not schizophrenic'' group with respect to cognitive impairment.…”