Neuropsychological Deficits and Concomitant Clinical Symptoms in Schizophrenia

Abstract

The most frequently reported neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia are those of attention, executive function, and verbal memory. Whereas the former appear to be related to negative symptoms of schizophrenia, there is little agreement about which clinical symptoms are related to the verbal memory deficit. The aim of the present study was to delineate further the pattern of neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia—especially those of verbal memory—and their relationship to clinical symptoms. One hundred patients with chronic schizophrenia and 62 healthy control subjects took part in the study. Assessments of patients took place within the first 3 weeks after admission to hospital. Nine neuropsychological tests, mainly measuring executive and memory function and attention, were administered to all subjects, and clinical symptoms, such as psychotic and negative symptoms and conceptual disorganization, were assessed in patients by means of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Patients showed widespread cognitive deficits with verbal memory impairment best discriminating patients and controls. Conceptual disorganization was partly accounted for by poor verbal memory and a low IQ estimate, and negative symptoms by deficient word fluency; positive symptoms were not significantly related to cognitive deficits. The results indicate that there is a specific relationship between neuropsychological deficits and the more chronic of the clinical symptoms.