Impaired verbal memory is associated with impaired motor performance in schizophrenia: relationship to brain structure.
Deficient ability to take advantage of predictable elements in the performance of cognitive tasks has been proposed as an underlying factor for a number of deviances in schizophrenia. In a schizophrenic sample (n=39), we propose and test the view that certain memory and motor anomalies arise because of a compromise in the capacity to take advantage of the redundant (predictable) features of cognitive tasks. Results demonstrate a relationship between reduced capacity to take advantage of predictable features of two different cognitive processing tasks, one verbal memory, and the other motor. Poorer verbal recall on high-redundancy word lists was associated with a reduced ability to produce synchronous finger tapping in response to a high redundancy auditory stimulus, and inversely correlated with formal thought disorder ratings. These relationships, we suggest, reflect a specific and common schizophrenic deficit in the use of redundancies, not attributable to a generalized deficiency in performance. Structural imaging evidence from a subsample of these subjects (n=16) implicates frontal areas as the locus of this cognitive impairment.
Manschreck
T C
TC
Department of Psychiatry, Dr. John C. Corrigan Mental Health Center, 49 Hillside Street, 02720, Fall River, MA 02215, USA. theo.manschreck@dmh.state.ma.us
Maher
B A
BA
Candela
S F
SF
Redmond
D
D
Yurgelun-Todd
D
D
Tsuang
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*