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Frontal lobe impairment in schizophrenia: relationship to intellectual functioning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. R. Crawford*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; and Departments of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Aberdeen
M. C. Obonsawin
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; and Departments of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Aberdeen
M. Bremner
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; and Departments of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Aberdeen
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr John R. Crawford, School of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia, PO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.

Synopsis

Schizophrenic subjects (N = 48) and individually matched healthy controls were administered the Verbal Scale of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (VIQ) and a test of verbal fluency. The verbal fluency and VIQ scores of the schizophrenic subjects were significantly lower than the scores of the control subjects. An additional sample of healthy subjects (N = 144) was used to generate a regression equation for the prediction of verbal fluency scores from Verbal IQ and age. The verbal fluency scores obtained by the schizophrenic subjects were significantly lower than the scores predicted from the regression equation, whereas a significant difference was not obtained in the matched controls. These results provide further evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Type
Brief Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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