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Preserved emotional memory modulation in first episode psychosis
Sieds Dieleman1, Frederik van der Veen2, Nico van Beveren3
1Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Bavo-Europoort Psychiatric Institute, Oudedijk 76, 3062 AG Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychiatry Research
|February 3, 2015
Summary
Emotional memory modulation (EMM) appears intact in early schizophrenia (First Episode Psychosis). While overall memory is impaired, the ability to modulate memory with emotion is preserved in these patients compared to healthy controls.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Schizophrenia is associated with memory impairments and emotional deficits.
- Previous studies on emotional memory modulation (EMM) in schizophrenia yield conflicting results.
- Methodological variations and small sample sizes may contribute to inconsistent findings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if impaired EMM is present in First Episode Psychosis (FEP).
- To determine if EMM impairments are dependent on specific tasks or stimuli.
- To assess EMM in the early stages of schizophrenia.
Main Methods:
- Compared 45 FEP participants with 37 matched Healthy Controls (HC).
- Administered visual and verbal short-term (immediate recall) and long-term (24h recognition) memory tasks.
- Utilized neutral, negative, and positive stimuli across all memory tasks.
Main Results:
- FEP participants demonstrated significantly lower overall memory performance than HC across all tasks.
- EMM varied by task and stimulus type, but no significant differences in EMM were found between FEP and HC groups.
- Emotion's modulation of different memory domains did not differ between FEP and HC.
Conclusions:
- Emotional memory modulation appears to be spared in the early course of schizophrenia.
- Despite overall memory deficits, the emotional enhancement of memory may be preserved in FEP.
- Early-stage schizophrenia might retain the capacity for emotional memory modulation.
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