title: Neuropsychological and cerebral morphometric aspects of negative symptoms in schizophrenia: negative symptomatology is associated with specific mnestic deficits in schizophrenic patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients seems to be an important indicator for treatment response and prognosis. Although negative symptoms have often been attributed to frontal lobe anomalies, neuropsychological and anatomical findings do not explicitly support this assumption. Since knowledge about the cerebral correlate of negative symptoms in schizophrenia might have a strong impact on therapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions, we aimed to answer this question by investigating the relationship between negative symptoms, neuropsychological functioning and cerebral volumes in schizophrenic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty schizophrenic patients and 32 healthy controls were examined using a neuropsychological test battery for the assessment of temporal (mnestic) and frontal (executive) faculties. Volumetric measurements of temporal (hippocampus and amygdala) and frontal (orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and anterior cingulate area) brain areas were performed. Negative symptoms were assessed using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Schizophrenic patients performed worse than healthy controls in tests assessing verbal and visuospatial learning and memory functions and on the Stroop interference task. After dividing the schizophrenic group in patients with high and low SANS scores almost all of these deficits were restricted to the former group. There were no overall group differences regarding cerebral subarea volumes. Overall negative symptoms were significantly correlated with verbal memory functions but not with frontal lobe faculties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Negative symptoms in schizophrenia could specifically associated with verbal memory deficits.
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. tobias.hornig@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hornig
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. gabi_valerius@web.de.
authors.forename: Gabi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valerius
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. bernd.feige@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feige
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. emanuel.bubl@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bubl
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. prof.olbrich@psychiatrie-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Hans M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Olbrich
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104, Germany. tebartzvanelst@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Ludger Tebartz
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: van Elst
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009341:Negativism; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009929:Organ Size; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D057190:Stroop Test