Effectiveness of an attention- and memory-training program on neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia

The effect of two cognitive remediation procedures developed for closed head injury, Attention Process Training (APT) and Prospective Memory Training (PROMT), on neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia was investigated. Six patients with schizophrenia, varying in baseline intellectual function and symptoms, were studied; three in a remediation condition and three in a nonremediated control condition. Results were evaluated individually for each of the three treated patients. Two of three remediation-treated subjects showed marked improvement on tests of sustained and divided attention. Untreated patients showed little evidence of change in neuropsychological test performance across a similar time interval, when tested on a subset of the measures administered to remediation-treated patients. The results of this study are discussed with a view toward future studies using larger sample sizes with homogeneous subject populations.