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Working memory correlates of three symptom clusters in schizophrenia
Allison M Cameron1, Joanne Oram, Gina M Geffen
1Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory, Medical School, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia. allison@psy.uq.edu.au
Psychiatry Research
|May 15, 2002
Summary
Working memory deficits are linked to specific schizophrenia symptoms. Negative symptoms correlate with impaired verbal and visuospatial memory, while disorganization is associated with attention and executive function issues.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Schizophrenia is characterized by positive, negative, and disorganised symptoms.
- Working memory impairments are frequently observed in schizophrenia patients.
- The specific relationship between working memory deficits and symptom dimensions requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether distinct working memory deficits are associated with positive, negative, and disorganised symptoms of schizophrenia.
- To determine the relationship between symptom dimension severity and performance on various working memory tasks.
Main Methods:
- 52 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia (ICD-10 criteria) were assessed.
- Symptom dimensions were rated using items from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).
- Linear regression and correlational analyses examined links between PANSS scores and working memory test performance.
Main Results:
- Negative symptom severity correlated with reduced verbal fluency, impaired online manipulation of information, dual-task deficits, and compromised visuospatial working memory.
- Disorganisation symptom severity correlated with impaired visuospatial working memory under distraction, verbal fluency inhibition failures, perseverative responding, and impaired veracity judgments.
- Positive symptom severity showed no correlation with any working memory measures.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest that positive, negative, and disorganised symptom dimensions of schizophrenia are independent clusters.
- Each symptom cluster is associated with unique patterns of working memory impairment.
- Working memory deficits play a specific role in the manifestation of different schizophrenia symptom dimensions.