Sexual dimorphism of spatial working memory profiles in schizophrenia.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the present study was to compare spatial working memory performance of females and males schizophrenia patients to verify whether the sexual dimorphism of spatial abilities present in the general population is found also in schizophrenia.


METHODS
We analysed different types of errors committed by each gender on the spatial working memory test of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery to determine potential differences between them.


RESULTS
Despite the lack of difference in the number of errors between men and women, different profiles of errors were associated with the strategy used according to gender. The men's strategy was better compared to women. Specifically, for women strategy score correlated positively with searches in previously visited boxes, whereas for men it correlated with both previously visited boxes and never visited ones. However, men's strategy is more impaired by the number of revisits in boxes in which tokens have previously been found than female's one.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggested impaired either central executive and/or visuospatial sketchpad of working memory in patients with schizophrenia. We demonstrated also that the worsening of strategy in men is principally due to central executive deficits compared to women with schizophrenia. The study of sex differences in cognitive performances could help in delineating partially different endophenotypes of schizophrenia in men and women.
Lecardeur
Laurent
L
Department of Psychiatry, Centre de Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Hôpital Louis-H Lafontaine, Université de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. lecardeur@cyceron.fr
Mendrek
Adrianna
A
Stip
Emmanuel
E
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*