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Neuropsychological correlates of syndromes in schizophrenia
R M Norman1, A K Malla, S L Morrison-Stewart
1London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, Canada.
Background:
On the basis of Liddle's three-syndrome model of schizophrenia, it was predicted that: (1) symptoms of psychomotor poverty would be particularly correlated with impaired performance on neuropsychological tests likely to reflect functioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; (2) disorganisation would be particularly correlated with impaired performance on tests sensitive to medio-basal prefrontal functioning; and (3) reality distortion would be particularly correlated with measures sensitive to temporal lobe functioning.
Method:
The above hypotheses were tested on 87 subjects with a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia. Patients' symptoms were scored for each of the three syndromes. Patients completed six neuropsychological tests designed to measure impairment in specific areas of the brain.
Results:
There was no support for the first two hypotheses. There was, however, evidence of a specific relationship between reality distortion and neuropsychological performance usually considered to be related to left temporal lobe functioning.
Conclusions:
Although not directly supporting the first two hypotheses; the results are, in general, consistent with there being different cortical-subcortical circuits associated with each of psychomotor poverty and disorganisation. Temporal lobe functioning appears to have particular significance for the reality distortion syndrome.