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Prior Trial Effects on Working Memory in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Healthy Control Individuals
Sonia Bansal1, Gi-Yeul Bae2, Deanna M Barch3
1Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.
JAMA Psychiatry
|April 15, 2026
Summary
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit repulsive biases in working memory tasks, while healthy individuals show attractive biases. Bipolar disorder patients showed a mix of both, suggesting serial bias as a potential biomarker.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Healthy individuals display attractive serial dependence in working memory, biasing responses toward recent inputs.
- Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) consistently exhibit repulsive biases, moving responses away from recent inputs.
- Understanding serial dependence in bipolar disorder (BD) with psychosis history is crucial for differentiating cognitive mechanisms across the psychosis spectrum.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) exhibit repulsive biases, similar to SZ, or attractive biases, like healthy controls (HC).
- To compare serial dependence patterns across SZ, BD with psychosis history, and HC groups.
- To explore the potential of serial bias as a biomarker for psychiatric disorders.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study involving participants meeting DSM-5 criteria for SZ or BD with psychosis history, and matched HC participants.
- A spatial working memory task assessing the reproduction of object orientation after a variable delay.
- Analysis of the bias index to quantify attractive (toward previous target) and repulsive (away from previous target) biases.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in overall bias were observed across groups.
- Individuals with SZ showed significantly greater repulsive bias compared to both BD and HC individuals.
- Healthy controls predominantly exhibited attractive bias, while SZ predominantly showed repulsive bias. BD participants displayed a mix, with many showing attractive bias and some showing repulsive bias.
Conclusions:
- Serial bias patterns differ between healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia.
- Individuals with bipolar disorder exhibit varied serial dependence patterns, with some resembling healthy controls and others showing schizophrenia-like patterns.
- Serial bias may serve as a valuable biomarker for understanding pathophysiology and advancing precision psychiatry.
