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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The relation of specific MMPI scores to attention, concentration, and memory was assessed in an inpatient psychiatric sample diagnosed by DSM-III-R criteria as having schizophrenia, chronic undifferentiated type (n = 22); schizophrenia, paranoid type (n = 17); and schizoaffective disorder (n = 20). MMPI indices that are used widely to infer cognitive efficiency--including Scales 2 (Depression), 8 (Schizophrenia), SC-PT, D4 (Mental Dullness), SC2A (Lack of Ego Mastery, Cognitive), PSY (Psychoticism) and ORG (Organic Symptoms)--were investigated in relation to actual performance on Digit Span and subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS, Russell's Revision). Weak correlations emerged (maximum r = .31, p less than .05), which suggests that scores on these MMPI measures may not provide a reliable basis for inferring attention and memory functioning.
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PMID:MMPI interpretation of psychiatric inpatients: caution in making inferences about concentration and memory. 135 92

The distinction between winter-born (WBS) and non-winter born (NWBS) schizophrenic cases has been proposed as a strategy to identify distinct etiologic subtypes within schizophrenia, the WBS subgroup being a predominantly environmental subtype. The goal of this paper is to empirically test the validity of this strategy by comparing WBS and NWBS groups on a broad array of clinical and biological variables. DSM-III-R schizophrenic, schizoaffective and schizophreniform subjects were comprehensively assessed using (i) the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History; (ii) a comprehensive neurological exam; (iii) a neuropsychological battery, including IQ and the Continuous Performance Test and (iv) an MRI scanning. The patients were divided into WBS and NWBS, using five alternative sets of definitions of winter birth. These comparisons yielded no differences between the groups on any of the 23 variables. The results suggest that the distinction between winter-born and non-winter-born cases has very limited power to identify distinct schizophrenic subtypes, and that better delineation of the correlates of environmental risk factors in schizophrenia will require a better identification of these factors.
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PMID:No difference found between winter- and non-winter-born schizophrenic cases. 866 3

Associations between symptom subtypes, life skills, olfactory identification, and neuropsychological ability were investigated in patients with schizophrenia and related to observations of poor personal hygiene and implied functional compromise of orbitofrontal integrity. Twenty-seven men with chronic schizophrenia were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia and the Life Skills Profile. Performance on the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST), delayed response/alternation, and memory tasks derived from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was also compared to that of an age-, sex-, and IQ-matched control group. Patient UPSIT, MWCST, and WMS-R performance was significantly impaired in comparison to controls. Poor UPSIT performance and poor self-care were significantly associated with negative symptoms. Also, UPSIT ability was associated with performance on the MWCST in both patients and controls, whereas an association with performance on the WMS-R was only found in normal subjects rather than in the patients with schizophrenia. The importance of these findings to postulated mechanisms involving prefrontal rather than mediotemporal lobe (MTL) function in schizophrenia are discussed, as is the relevance of the use of smell identification ability to subtype identification and rehabilitative strategies.
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PMID:Neuropsychological, olfactory, and hygiene deficits in men with negative symptom schizophrenia. 891 62

We employed a simple and relatively undemanding task of monotone counting for the assessment of sustained attention in schizophrenic patients. The monotone counting task has been validated neuropsychologically and is particularly sensitive to right prefrontal lesions. We compared the performance of schizophrenic patients with age- and education-matched controls. We then explored the extent to which a range of commonly employed neuropsychological tasks in schizophrenia research are related to attentional impairment as measured in this way. Monotone counting performance was found to be correlated with digit span (WAIS-R-HK), information (WAIS-R-HK), comprehension (WAIS-R-HK), logical memory (immediate recall) (Weschler Memory Scale, WMS), and visual reproduction (WMS). Multiple regression analysis also identified visual reproduction, digit span and comprehension as significant predictors of attention performance. In contrast, logical memory (delay recall) (WMS), similarity (WAIS-R-HK), semantic fluency, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (perseverative errors) were not correlated with attention. In addition, no significant correlation between sustained attention and symptoms was found. These findings are discussed in the context of a weakly modular cognitive system where attentional impairment may contribute selectively to a range of other cognitive deficits.
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PMID:Neuropsychological correlates of sustained attention in schizophrenia. 913 90

Researchers disagree about why patients with schizophrenia perform poorly on memory tests. Some argue the presence of a fundamental memory deficit stemming from dysfunction in medial temporal lobe structures, principally the hippocampus. Others, stressing the contributions of impaired attention or executive failings such as a disorganized approach to learning, implicate larger neural networks. We compared data from psychometrically similar procedures, the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), generated by 17 schizophrenia-spectrum patients and 33 psychiatric controls. We then compared our findings in detail with all published WMS-R/WAIS-R schizophrenia data. Our findings and the literature indicate that the acquisition of new information is disrupted in schizophrenia, but they provide little support for claims that memory deficits are especially pronounced relative to other weaknesses. Since schizophrenia patients exhibit reasonable retention following intervening activity, theories that place primary emphasis upon hippocampal dysfunction are not well supported.
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PMID:Memory deficits in schizophrenia: inadequate assimilation or true amnesia? Findings from the Wechsler Memory Scale--revised. 918 15

To investigate cognitive variables related to affect recognition in schizophrenia, 63 subjects with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were administered a test battery which included the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Wechsler Memory (WMS-R) and Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS-R), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test, Gorham's Proverbs, and Continuous Performance Task (CPT). Coefficients revealed a moderate relationship between emotion recognition and WCST and CPT but no significant relationship with other test variables. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that approximately one-third of the variance in BLERT scores could be explained by cognitive variables including the Digit Symbol Subtest, CPT, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test. Other analyses demonstrated that subjects with moderate to severe affect recognition impairment had more perseverative errors, had fewer complete categories on the WCST and had more errors on the CPT. However, there were no significant differences on global measures of impairment such as WAIS-R IQs and Digit Symbol Substitution Test. The discussion focuses on deficits in affect recognition as a distinct feature which contributes to the heterogeneity of the disorder.
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PMID:Affect recognition in schizophrenia: a function of global impairment or a specific cognitive deficit. 925 55

This paper describes the cognitive functioning of a community cohort of individuals presenting with a first episode of a schizophrenia spectrum psychosis. Data were obtained for 107 patients (mean age 25 years) following stabilization of acute psychotic symptoms, mostly with the use of novel antipsychotics, on measures of intellectual, memory, attentional and executive functioning using a standardized battery of cognitive measures, including WAIS III and WMS III. While patients generally performed in the average range across the majority of measures, deficits (Z-scores >1.0 S.D.) were observed on measures of speed of information processing (PASAT, WAIS III) and executive functions (Stroop Test and Trails B), with the greatest deficits observed on tests of processing speed (PASAT). Discrepancy scores between the NART and the WAIS suggest subtle but statistically significant declines in full scale and performance IQ following onset of psychosis. Differences in cognitive functioning between diagnostic groups were not supported. Comparison of the highest and lowest functioning patients with respect to the cognitive measures also did not support any demographic or clinical differences between these two subgroups. Our results suggest a relatively benign cognitive profile in first-episode schizophrenia spectrum psychosis, regardless of diagnosis, when most potential incidence cases in the community are included. The most severe deficits reported were on measures of speeded information processing, and level of performance did not distinguish between patients demographically or clinically.
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PMID:Cognitive functioning in stabilized first-episode psychosis patients. 1171 Nov 66

Although non-human primate models have been used previously to investigate the neurobiology of several sensory and cognitive developmental pathologies, they have been employed only sparingly to study the etiology of childhood psychopathologies for which deficits in social behavior and emotion regulation are major symptoms. Previous investigations of both adult human and non-human primates have indicated that primate social behavior and emotion are regulated by a complex neural network, in which the amygdala and orbital frontal cortex play major roles. Therefore, this review will provide information generated from the study of macaque monkeys regarding the timing of normal social and emotional behavior development, the normal pattern of anatomical and functional maturation of the amygdala and orbital frontal cortex, as well as information regarding the neural and behavioral effects of early perturbations of these two neural structures. We will also highlight 'critical periods' of macaque development, during which major refinements in the behavioral repertoire appear to coincide with significant neural maturation of the amygdala and/or orbital frontal cortex. The identification of these 'critical periods' may allow one to better predict the specific behavioral impairments likely to appear after neonatal damage to one or both of these neural areas at different time points during development. This experimental approach may provide a new and important way to inform and stimulate research on childhood psychopathologies, such as autism, schizophrenia and Williams syndrome, in which the development of normal social skills and emotional regulation is severely perturbed. Finally, the promise and limitations inherent to the use of non-human primate models of childhood psychopathology will be discussed.
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PMID:Non-human primate models of childhood psychopathology: the promise and the limitations. 1255 13

Many human chromosomal abnormality syndromes include specific cognitive and behavioural components. Children with Prader-Willi syndrome lack a paternally derived copy of the proximal long arm of chromosome 15, and eat uncontrollably; in Angelman syndrome lack of a maternal contribution of 15q11-q13 results in absence of speech, frequent smiling and episodes of paroxysmal laughter; deletions on 22q11 can be associated with obsessive behaviour and schizophrenia. The neurodevelopmental disorder Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), is caused by a microdeletion at 7q11.23 and provides us with one of the most convincing models of a relationship that links genes with human cognition and behaviour. The hypothesis is that deletion of one or a series of genes causes neurodevelopmental abnormalities that manifest as the fractionation of mental abilities typical of WBS. Detailed molecular characterization of the deletion alongside well-defined cognitive profiling in WBS provides a unique opportunity to investigate the neuromolecular basis of complex cognitive behaviour, and develop integrated approaches to study gene function and genotype-phenotype correlations.
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PMID:Williams-Beuren syndrome: a challenge for genotype-phenotype correlations. 1295 63

Clinicians should note that there is considerable variability in the reliabilities of the index and subtest scores derived from the third editions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) and the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III). The purpose of this article is to review these reliabilities and to illustrate how they can be used to interpret change in patients' performances from test to retest. The WAIS-III IQ and Index scores are consistently the most reliable scores, in terms of both internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The most internally consistent WAIS-III subtests are Vocabulary, Information, Digit Span, Matrix Reasoning, and Arithmetic. Information and Vocabulary have the highest test-retest reliability. On the WMS-III, the Auditory Immediate Index, Immediate Memory Index, Auditory Delayed Index, and General Memory Index are the most reliable, in terms of both internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The Logical Memory I and Verbal Paired Associates I subtests are the most reliable. Data from three clinical groups (i.e., Alzheimer's disease, chronic alcohol abuse, and schizophrenia) were extracted from the Technical Manual [Psychological Corporation (1997). WAIS-III/WMS-III Technical Manual. San Antonio: Harcourt Brace] for the purpose of calculating reliable change estimates. A table of confidence intervals for test-retest measurement error is provided to help the clinician determine if patients have reliably improved or deteriorated on follow-up testing.
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PMID:Interpreting change on the WAIS-III/WMS-III in clinical samples. 1459 Jan 86


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