The developmental course of executive functioning in schizophrenia.
Executive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia, but our understanding of the developmental course of this neuropsychological domain in the disease remains largely unexplored. A review of the research evidence points to a number of persistent debates about the course of executive functioning and its relation to illness course. A better understanding of the neurocognitive trajectories of executive functioning in schizophrenia could help identify the risk and modifying factors that influence the onset, severity and course of disease, and the chance to re-direct or re-shape that course and improve outcomes. To accomplish this requires assessment of the diverse and integrated nature of those abilities, and the changes over time in those abilities requires multiple instruments and techniques in order to improve the research methods and understanding of an important area of impairment in schizophrenia.
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. df2379@columbia.edu
David
D
Freedman
Alan S
AS
Brown
D017668:Age of Onset; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index