Neurological soft signs and neuropsychological performance in patients with first episode schizophrenia

Extrapyramidal symptoms and cognitive test performance in patients with schizophrenia

“…There is a rich history of literature linking neurological abnormalities (e.g., neurological soft signs and tardive dyskinesia) with worse performance on cognitive tests (Waddington et al, 1987;King et al, 1991;Brown and White, 1992;Flashman et al, 1996;Sachdev et al, 1996;Waddington and Youssef, 1996;Arango et al, 1999;Mohr et al, 2003;Miller et al, 2005). These findings have traditionally been interpreted as neurological abnormalities and cognitive impairments sharing common pathophysiology, perhaps related to subcortical basal ganglia (i.e., nigro-striatal circuit) functioning.…”

Neurological soft signs as candidate endophenotypes for schizophrenia: A shooting star or a Northern star?

“…Motor coordination signs are specifically associated with impairments in action and attention inhibition (Mohr et al, 1996(Mohr et al, , 2003Cuesta et al, 1996;Wong et al, 1997;Chen et al, 2001a,b) as well as with verbal performance (Merriam et al, 1990;Flashman et al, 1996) and visual-spatial memory (Cuesta et al, 1996;Arango et al, 1999;Sanders et al, 2004). However, it should be cautioned that verbal performance has been shown to be associated with general intelligence and executive function, and it has been suggested that prefrontal cortex is critically involved (e.g., Duncan et al, 2000).…”

Neurological soft signs as an endophenotype in an African schizophrenia population – a pilot study

“…13,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25] However, this association has not been confirmed by all studies. [34][35][36] Rather the link seems to be more clear in samples with a severe or chronic illness outcome eg persistence of negative symptoms in spite of adequate antipsychotic treatment. 37,38 Our sample seems to fit this mould, taken into account the mean duration of illness and presence of ongoing positive and negative symptoms as evidenced by the SANS and SAPS.…”