Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test performance in acute, chronic, and remitted schizophrenia patients

To assess visual memory disturbance in different forms of schizophrenia, we compared Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCF) performance in acutely psychotic, chronically psychotic, and outpatient schizophrenia patients and in a control group of acutely psychotic patients with disorders other than schizophrenia. There were no group differences on the copy condition of the RCF. The chronic schizophrenia group utilized more abnormal copying strategies, however, than the outpatient or nonschizophrenia groups. Moreover, the chronic schizophrenia group demonstrated significantly poorer recall than the outpatient or nonschizophrenia groups, and a trend toward poorer performance than the acute schizophrenia group. Both groups of inpatient schizophrenia patients were characterized by a lack of relationship between copying strategies and recall accuracy. These data suggest that (a) chronic schizophrenia patients are characterized by more severe memory impairment than are nonchronic schizophrenia patients, and (b) visual memory disturbance in chronic schizophrenia is not solely a function of encoding difficulties.