title: Visuospatial memory deficits in adolescent onset schizophrenia.
abstract: Visuospatial memory encoding deficits have been reported in adults with schizophrenia, while adolescents with schizophrenia have not been specifically investigated with visuospatial memory encoding and retrieval paradigms. A cross sectional study of delayed matching-to-sample performance in 19 right handed, male, anti-psychotic medication naïve adolescents with undifferentiated schizophrenia and 28 age, gender, IQ and handedness matched healthy participants was completed. The adolescent-onset schizophrenia group demonstrated significant impairment in visuospatial memory, independent of the degree of delay, consistent with an encoding impairment. The impaired encoding phase of visuospatial memory in the adolescent-onset schizophrenia group is consistent with findings in adult onset schizophrenia samples, suggesting a developmental stage-independent deficit.
authors: Academic Child Psychiatry Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne and Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia. avance@unimelb.edu.au
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Vance
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Hall
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Casey
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Karsz
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Bellgrove
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003118:Color Perception; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology