Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T22:25:33.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Memory impairment in schizophrenia – a comparison with that observed in the Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Louise Duffy  and
Ronan O'Carroll
Louise Duffy
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, St John's Hospital, Livingston, MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
Ronan O'Carroll*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, St John's Hospital, Livingston, MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Ronan O'Carroll, MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Until very recently, memory impairment was not considered to be a central feature of schizophrenia, except in chronic, deteriorated patients. In this study of a heterogeneous sample of 40 patients with DSM-III-R schizophrenia, episodic memory impairment was found to be prevalent, and in some cases, severe. The degree of memory impairment was not attributable to neuroleptic or anticholinergic medication, or to poor motivation or cooperation. These results, therefore, replicate those reported by McKenna et al. (1990) and Tamlyn et al. (1992), who suggested that the pattern of memory impairment in schizophrenia may conform in important respects to that of the classic amnesic syndrome. However, in a direct comparison of the schizophrenic sample with 18 patients suffering from the Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome (AKS), both quantitative and qualitative differences were found to exist between the two groups of patients. In particular, the level of long-term episodic memory impairment was found in the AKS sample to be far greater than that in the schizophrenic group. An interesting possible double-dissociation emerged between the two groups; although demonstrating superior episodic memory functioning, the schizophrenic sample were found to perform significantly more poorly than the AKS sample on a test of semantic memory.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 1994 , pp. 155 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-III-R. Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C., Rezai, K., Alliger, R., Swayze, V. W. II, Flaum, M., Kirchner, P., Cohen, G. & O'Leary, D. S. (1992). Hypofrontality in neuroleptic-naive patients and in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 49, 943–958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anthony, J. C., LeReche, L., Niaz, U., Von Korff, M. R. & Folstein, M. F. (1982). Limits of the ‘Mini-Mental State’ as a screening test for dementia and delirium among hospital patients. Psychological Medicine 12, 397–408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. (1982). Amnesia: a minimal model and an interpretation. In Human Memory and Amnesia (ed. Cermak, L. S.), pp. 305–336. Erlbaum: Hillsdale, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (1990). Human Memory: Theory and Practice. Erlbaum: Hove.Google Scholar
Benton, A. L. (1974). The Revised Visual Retention Test (4th edn). New York Psychological Condition: New York.Google Scholar
Black, J. L., Richelson, E. & Richardson, J. W. (1985). Psychotic agents: a clinical update. Mayo Clinical Proceedings 60, 777–789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1911). Dementia Praecox, or the Group of Schizophrenias (translated 1950 by J. Zinkin). International Universities Press: New York.Google Scholar
Calev, A., Nigal, D. & Chazan, S. (1989). Retrieval from semantic memory using meaningful and meaningless constructs by depressed, stable bipolar and manic patients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 28, 67–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, A. M. & Quillian, M. R. (1969). Retrieval time from semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour 8, 240–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, J. R., Besson, J. A. O. & Parker, D. M. (1988). Estimation of pre-morbid intelligence in organic conditions. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 178–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, J. R., Besson, J. A. O., Bremner, M., Ebmeier, K. P., Cochrane, R. H. B. & Kirkwood, K. (1992). Estimation of premorbid intelligence in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 161, 69–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutting, J. C. (1990). The Right Cerebral Hemisphere and Psychiatric Disorders. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedachtnis. Published in translation (1913) as Memory. Teachers' College Press: New York.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. & McHugh, P. R. (1975). Mini-Mental State: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research 12, 189–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, P. (1989). Neuroleptic equivalence. Pharmaceutical Journal 30, 431–432.Google Scholar
Golberg, T. E., Greenberg, R. D., Griffin, S. J., Gold, J. M., Kleinman, J. E., Pickar, D., Schulz, S. C. & Weinberger, D. R. (1993). The effect of clozapine on cognition and psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 162, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. A., Feldon, J., Rawlins, J. N. P., Hemsley, D. R. & Smith, A. D. (1991). The neuropsychology of schizophrenia. Behavioural and Brain Sciences 14, 1–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, R., McLuskie, R., Wyper, D., Patterson, J., Christie, J. E., Brooks, D. N., McCulloch, J., Fink, G. & Goodwin, G. M. (1989). The pattern of function-related regional cerebral blood flow investigated by single photon emission tomography with 99mTc-HMPAO in patients with presenile Alzheimer's disease and Korsakoff's psychosis. Psychological Medicine 19, 847–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I. Q. (1983). Performance of schizophrenic patients on tests sensitive to left or right frontal, temporal, or parietal function in neurological patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171, 435–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. D. (1986). Clinical tests of memory. British Journal of Psychiatry 148, 517–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. D. (1987). Amnesia: organic and psychogenic. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 428–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krawiecka, M., Golberg, D. & Vaughn, M. (1977). A standardised psychiatric assessment scale for rating psychotic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 55, 299–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lezak, M. (1983). Neuropsychological Assessment, 2nd edn.Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
McKenna, P. J. (1991). Memory, knowledge and delusions. British Journal of Psychiatry 59, 36–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenna, P. J., Tamlyn, D., Lund, C. E., Mortimer, A. M., Hammond, S. & Baddeley, A. D. (1990). Amnesic syndrome in schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine 20, 967–972.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayes, A. R. (1988). Human Organic Memory Disorders. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mowray, B. J. & Burvill, P. W. (1988). A study of mild dementia in the community using a wide range of diagnostic criteria. British Journal of Psychiatry 163, 328–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newcombe, F. (1969). Missile Wounds of the Brain. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
O'Carroll, R. E., Moffoot, A., Ebmeier, K. P., Murray, C. & Goodwin, G. M. (1992). Estimating pre-morbid intellectual ability in the Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome. Psychological Medicine 22, 903–909.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Carroll, R. E., Moffoot, A., Ebmeier, K. P., Murray, C. & Goodwin, G. M. (1993 a). Korsakoff's syndrome, cognition and clonidine. Psychological Medicine 23, 341–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Carroll, R. E., Dunan, J., Murray, C., Austin, M.-P., Ebmeier, K. P. & Goodwin, G. M. (1993 b). Proactive interference and the neuropsychology of schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 32, 353–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Park, S. & Holzman, P. S. (1992). Schizophrenics show spatial working memory deficits. Archives of General Psychiatry 49, 975–982.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Randt, C. T. & Brown, E. R. (1983). Randt Memory Test. Life Science Associates: New York.Google Scholar
Saykin, A. J., Gur, R. C., Gur, R. E., Mozley, D., Mozley, L. H., Resnick, S. M., Kester, D. B. & Stafiniak, P. (1991). Neuropsychological function in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 48, 618–624.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shakow, D. (1981). The place of co-operation in the examination of mental disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 169, 127–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoqeirat, M. A., Mayes, A., MacDonald, C., Meudell, P. & Pickering, A. (1990). Performance on tests sensitive to frontal lobe lesions by patients with organic amnesia: Leng & Parkin revisited. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 29, 401–408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spreen, O. & Strauss, E. (1991). A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Squire, L. R. (1987). Memory and Brain. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Tamlyn, D., McKenna, P. J., Mortimer, A. M., Lund, C. E., Hammond, S. & Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Memory impairment in schizophrenia. Its extent, affiliations and neuropsychological character. Psychological Medicine 22, 101–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of Episodic Memory. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1945). A standardised memory scale for clinical use. Journal of Psychology 19, 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Revised. The Psychological Corporation: New York.Google Scholar
Wilson, B., Cockburn, J. & Baddeley, A. D. (1985). Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Thames Valley Test Co.: Titchfield, Fareham.Google Scholar
Wilson, B. A., Cockburn, J. M., Baddeley, A. D. & Hiorns, R. (1989). The development and validation of a test battery for detecting and monitoring everyday memory problems. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 11, 855–870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed