title: Learning and forgetting in schizophrenia.
abstract: Recent studies of patients with schizophrenia have consistently demonstrated marked deficits on measures of initial learning. However, contradictory results have been reported concerning retention and forgetting. The present study examined the level of initial and delayed recall of stories and visual figures in a group of 76 patients with schizophrenia and 51 normal controls. Schizophrenia patients demonstrated marked impairments in initial and delayed recall as well as significantly worse percentage retention scores. However, schizophrenia patients and healthy controls individually matched on level of initial recall had nearly identical delayed recall performance. The results suggest a primary deficit in the initial acquisition of information rather than an accelerated rate of forgetting in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health Neuroscience Center, St. Elizabeth's, Washington, D.C., USA. jgold@mprc.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rehkemper
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Binks
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Weinberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011932:Reading; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning