Neuropsychological impairment in first episode and chronic schizophrenic patients

Albus, Margot; Hubmann, W.; Ehrenberg, C.; Forcht, U.; Mohr, F.; Sobizack, N.; Wahlheim, C.

doi:10.1016/0920-9964(96)85687-8

Cited by 16 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…In one study the greatest deficits of schizophrenics were reported in visuomotor and attentional functions, whereas only intermediate deficits in cognitive flexibility could be demonstrated (Albus et al 1996). Our study suggests that the former deficit is probably not peculiar to schizophrenia, whereas the latter may in fact be.…”

Section: Cognition In Schizophrenia 447mentioning

confidence: 64%

Cognitive impairment of executive function as a core symptom of schizophrenia

Wobrock

Ecker²,

Scherk

et al. 2009

The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry

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Cognitive dysfunction is a common finding in schizophrenia. Nevertheless the specific pattern of neuropsychological impairment in schizophrenia compared to other severe mental illnesses has not been intensively studied. Twenty-four patients with schizophrenia belonging to different stages of the disease (11 first-episode patients, 13 patients with multiple episodes), 18 patients with bipolar disorder and 23 healthy control subjects underwent standardized neuropsychological assessment. Statistical analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) demonstrated that, compared to control subjects, patients with schizophrenia performed significantly worse in the trail-making test (P = 0.012), verbal fluency (category letter, P = 0.004), verbal learning/memory (P = 0.005), and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) (P = 0.004 for administered trials; P = 0.025 for perseverative responses, T value) indicating significant deficits in attention and psychomotor performance, and in particular in verbal working memory and cognitive flexibility for schizophrenic patients. A significant difference between schizophrenic and bipolar patients was found only in the WCST. Schizophrenic patients made significantly more perseverative responses (P = 0.002, ANCOVA), indicating a more pronounced and specific deficit in cognitive flexibility and frontally based executive function. In conclusion, these results may suggest a cognitive endophenotype in schizophrenia and underline the role of the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenic pathophysiology.

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Section: Cognition In Schizophrenia 447mentioning

confidence: 64%

Cognitive impairment of executive function as a core symptom of schizophrenia

Wobrock

Ecker²,

Scherk

et al. 2009

The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry

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“…The profile analyses involved three steps: 1) estimation of the regression equation for all subjects to eliminate the effects of age, gender, IQ and the non‐independence of observations deriving from the same family; 2) formation of the residuals by using the difference between the predicted and the observed scores (as estimated using the regression equation); and 3) standardisation of age‐, gender‐, and IQ‐adjusted values (i.e., residuals) to form z ‐scores using the mean and standard deviation of the control group. Step 3 was outlined initially by Chapman and Chapman [1989] and implemented first by Saykin et al [1991] and subsequently by others [Cannon et al, 1994; Faraone et al, 1995; Albus et al, 1996].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the nature of the susceptibility genes and the traits they transmit are not understood, there are indications that genetic predisposition to schizophrenia may also be expressed as liability to non‐psychotic dysfunctions including cognitive deficits [Kremen et al, 1994; Cannon et al, 2000]. Four lines of enquiry suggest that cognitive impairment reflects a pathophysiological vulnerability to the illness: 1) it is present in first‐episode and unmedicated schizophrenic patients [Saykin et al, 1991, 1994]; 2) it remains relatively stable throughout the course of illness [Nopoulos et al, 1994; Albus et al, 1996; Censits et al, 1997; Rund, 1998]; 3) it predates the onset of psychosis [David et al, 1995; Jones, 1995]; and 4) it is present in an attenuated form in some of the healthy relatives of schizophrenic patients [Kremen et al, 1994; Cornblatt and Obuchowski, 1997; Faraone et al, 1999; Laurent et al, 1999; Byrne et al, 2000]. Nevertheless, the exact nature of the cognitive impairment shown by the relatives is not, as yet, clearly defined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selectivity of verbal memory deficit in schizophrenic patients and their relatives

Toulopoulou¹,

Morris²,

Rabe‐Hesketh³

et al. 2002

American J of Med Genetics Pt B

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Some of the relatives of people with schizophrenia show impairments of memory and executive function. It is not known, however, whether within these domains there is a class of processes that is especially impaired. Seventy schizophrenic or schizoaffective patients, 115 of their relatives and 66 normal controls underwent a series of assessments evaluating modality specific recall/learning, and aspects of executive functioning, including, planning ability, spatial working memory, strategy formation and rapid mental flexibility. The pattern of performance across cognitive processes was assessed using z-scores that allow direct comparison between tests with different raw score metrics. Selectivity of deficit was evaluated by subtracting the z-score of each cognitive process from the mean of the z-scores of those remaining. Patients performed out worse than controls on most measures, with verbal immediate recall and visual memory/learning the most impaired. Their relatives showed lower scores than controls on verbal and visual memory/learning and strategy formation; verbal memory and strategy formation remained impaired after eliminating those relatives with a psychiatric diagnosis. Consistent with the findings in their schizophrenic kin, healthy relatives also showed disproportionate impairments in verbal immediate recall. Our finding of a selective deficit in verbal memory among relatives suggests that such impairment constitutes a familial, probably genetic, risk factor for schizophrenia.

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“…In contrast, Abramczyk and colleagues (1983) also used the card version and reported a significant interaction of group (schizophrenia vs. normal controls) by interference condition (neutral vs. incongruent), with patients showing a larger interference effect than normal controls. In a subsequent study, Albus et al (1996) reported that both first-episode schizophrenia patients and chronic patients with schizophrenia exhibited greater interference than matched controls. A number of other studies using the card version have also reported greater Stroop interference in schizophrenia patients (Brebion, Smith, Gorman, & Amador, 1996;Hanes, Andrewes, Smith, & Pantelis, 1996;McGrath, Scheldt, Welham, & Clair, 1997), although not all have agreed (Purdon, 1998).…”

Section: Card Versionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Schizophrenia and the Stroop Effect

Henik

Salo

2004

Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews

132

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Conflict between irrelevant words and relevant colors in the Stroop task creates interference, long considered a measure of how well individuals focus attention. In the traditional card version of the Stroop task, schizophrenia patients exhibit increased interference, consistent with the distractibility they exhibit in everyday life. In contrast, on other versions of the Stroop task they show augmented facilitation (faster responding to congruent than to neutral trials). We suggest that schizophrenia patients possess adequate attentional resources to avoid interference when each letter string is presented individually but face difficulty when delays are imposed and multiple attentional demands appear. Although psychiatric symptomatology may contribute to different patterns of performance, there is no evidence that medication modulates this.

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Neuropsychological impairment in first episode and chronic schizophrenic patients

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Cognitive impairment of executive function as a core symptom of schizophrenia

Cognitive impairment of executive function as a core symptom of schizophrenia

Selectivity of verbal memory deficit in schizophrenic patients and their relatives

Schizophrenia and the Stroop Effect

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