title: Context processing performance in bipolar disorder patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Context processing is the adaptive control of current behavior through the use of prior context information. It has been found to be impaired in schizophrenia. Some studies have indicated that, compared with patients with schizophrenia, those with bipolar disorder (BPD) display a similar but less severe neuropsychological pattern of impairment. However, this cognitive dimension has not yet been examined in BPD patients in the existing literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  An expectancy version of the AX continuous performance test (AX-CPT) was administered to 15 bipolar outpatients and 26 healthy controls. Patients with schizophrenia, in which context processing deficits are known to occur, were used as a reference group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bipolar patients showed a context processing deficit relative to healthy controls, although this was less severe and generalized than in schizophrenia patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest there are milder impairments in context processing in BPD compared with schizophrenia. However, the severity of possible context processing deficits in BPD may have been underestimated in our sample of mostly euthymic outpatients.
authors: Department of Pathology and Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Brambilla
authors: Angus W
authors: AW
authors: Macdonald
authors: Roberto B
authors: RB
authors: Sassi
authors: Melissa K
authors: MK
authors: Johnson
authors: Alan G
authors: AG
authors: Mallinger
authors: Cameron S
authors: CS
authors: Carter
authors: Jair C
authors: JC
authors: Soares
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012660:Semantics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index