Verbal fluency and psychiatric symptoms in geriatric schizophrenia

Previous studies have demonstrated that negative symptoms are regulated by frontal brain regions. We were interested in the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and performance on a verbal fluency (VF) battery in a population of elderly schizophrenic subjects. Thirty-five elderly schizophrenic subjects were administered a neuropsychological battery which included verbal fluency performance and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS). Results showed negative symptoms to be strongly correlated with performance on tasks of VF, which may suggest that negative symptomatology in schizophrenia is related to prefrontal cortical activity.