Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026
Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills
Published on: April 23, 2014
Executive function and cognitive subprocesses in first-episode, drug-naive schizophrenia: an analysis of N-back
Stephan Krieger1, Stefanie Lis, Honorata Janik
1Department of Psychiatry, Justus-Liebig-University Medical School, Giessen, Germany.
Objective:
This study investigated changes in the cognitive architecture of N-back performance in schizophrenia.
Method:
N-back performance of 12 patients with first-episode, drug-naive schizophrenia and matched healthy comparison subjects was studied in a reaction-time decomposition paradigm.
Results:
Imposition of a working memory load led to a significant drop in response accuracy in patients. Reaction-time decomposition suggested slowing of visuomotor and choice reaction processing as well as an inability of parallel processing directed by working memory.
Discussion:
Although N-back tasks validly access working memory function as a neurocognitive trait in the illness, several additional subprocesses and the ability for cognitive parallel processing are altered and require further study in schizophrenia.
