Working memory and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in schizotypic individuals: a replication and extension

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychopathology Research

Background:

• Psychosis proneness is associated with cognitive deficits.
• Social anhedonia and perceptual aberrations are indicators of psychosis proneness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate spatial working memory and executive function in psychosis-prone individuals.
• To compare performance between individuals with high social anhedonia (SocAnh) and those with perceptual aberrations/magical ideation (Per-Mag) against controls.

Main Methods:

• Assessed spatial working memory using sensorimotor, degraded stimulus, and delayed-response tasks.
• Evaluated executive function with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).
• Compared performance in SocAnh (n=49), Per-Mag (n=66), and control (n=63) groups.

Main Results:

• Both SocAnh and Per-Mag groups showed poorer working memory than controls, with no significant difference between them.
• The SocAnh group had slower reaction times in working memory tasks.
• Both psychosis-prone groups performed worse on the WCST compared to controls.
• Working memory performance negatively correlated with WCST perseverative errors and trials to complete the first category.

Conclusions:

• Subtle spatial working memory impairments are present in some psychosis-prone individuals, particularly those with social-interpersonal schizotypal deficits.
• These findings highlight the link between social deficits, executive dysfunction, and working memory in psychosis proneness.