Effects of phonological and semantic cuing on encoding and retrieval processes in adolescent psychosis

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cuing on encoding and retrieval processes in adolescent psychosis. Patients and controls were instructed to learn word lists under three conditions: no cue, phonological cue, and semantic cue. Memory performance was measured with free and cued recalls. In free recall, both groups showed higher performance with semantic than with phonological encoding cues, but patients had no advantage from semantic cuing relative to no cue, contrary to controls. Patients' performance improved from free to cued recall, but this was not sufficient to normalize their performance. Impaired strategic processes may lead to encoding and retrieval difficulties in patients.