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Visuospatial working memory in schizotypal personality disorder patients
S E Roitman1, V Mitropoulou, R S Keefe
1Bronx VA Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, NY 10468, USA.
Schizophrenia Research
|March 23, 2000
Summary
Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) exhibit working memory deficits, similar to schizophrenia patients. This impairment may be specific to schizophrenia-related personality disorders.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive processing deficits are observed in both schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) and schizophrenia.
- Impaired working memory is hypothesized to underlie complex cognitive deficits in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate working memory performance in individuals diagnosed with SPD.
- To compare SPD patients' working memory to normal controls and a non-SPD psychiatric group.
Main Methods:
- A visuospatial working memory task was administered to 18 SPD patients, 17 healthy controls, and 9 patients with other personality disorders.
- Participants completed immediate recall trials and trials with a 10-second delay.
Main Results:
- SPD patients demonstrated significantly poorer performance on the working memory task compared to healthy controls.
- SPD patients also performed significantly worse than the psychiatric comparison group with non-schizophrenia-related personality disorders.
Conclusions:
- Schizotypal personality disorder patients exhibit working memory impairments, mirroring findings in schizophrenia patients.
- The observed working memory deficits in SPD may be specific to schizophrenia-related personality disorders.