Related Experiment Videos
Cognitive functions in schizotypal personality disorder
K S Cadenhead1, W Perry, K Shafer
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0804, USA. Kcadenhead@ucsd.edu
Schizophrenia Research
|June 22, 1999
Summary
Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) subjects show cognitive deficits in attention and executive functioning, intermediate between normal individuals and schizophrenia patients. These findings suggest widespread, but less severe, cognitive impairments in SPD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are characterized by significant cognitive deficits across multiple domains.
- Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) may present similar cognitive impairments, but with fewer confounding factors than schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cognitive functioning in individuals with SPD.
- To compare cognitive deficits in SPD subjects to those in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.
- To determine if SPD cognitive deficits are intermediate to those seen in schizophrenia.
Main Methods:
- A battery of cognitive measures assessed attention, abstract reasoning, cognitive inhibition, working memory, and verbal recognition memory.
- Twenty SPD subjects were compared with 20 age-, gender-, and education-matched schizophrenia patients and 20 healthy controls.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibited significant cognitive deficits compared to controls (p < 0.01).
- SPD subjects did not significantly differ from controls at p < 0.01, but showed trends toward impairment in working memory and general intellectual functioning.
- Effect size analyses revealed SPD performance intermediate to controls and schizophrenia patients across multiple cognitive domains.
Conclusions:
- SPD subjects demonstrate potential widespread cognitive deficits.
- These deficits in SPD are of a lesser magnitude than those observed in schizophrenia patients.