Performance of schizophrenia and bipolar patients on verbal and figural working memory tasks.
Working memory (WM) was studied in 82 healthy volunteers, 43 schizophrenia patients, and 81 bipolar patients. Schizophrenia patients were impaired on verbal and figural WM tasks that possessed similar test discriminating power. Bipolar patients performed similarly to healthy volunteers. A mathematical model of WM performance revealed a primary role for reduced WM span in accounting for the impaired verbal WM of schizophrenia patients and a primary role for diminished attention in accounting for impaired figural WM. Although WM impairment in schizophrenia is due neither to the general effects of severe mental illness nor to the specific type of material studied, the microarchitecture of abnormal WM in schizophrenia may depend on the stimulus material presented.
Brown
Gregory G
GG
Psychology Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA. gbrown@ucsd.edu
Lohr
James
J
Notestine
Randy
R
Turner
Travis
T
Gamst
Anthony
A
Eyler
Lisa T
LT
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014705:Verbal Behavior