Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:37:42.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Memory impairment in schizophrenia: its extent, affiliations and neuropsychological character

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

D. Tamlyn ,
P. J. McKenna ,
A. M. Mortimer ,
C. E. Lund ,
S. Hammond  and
A. D. Baddeley
D. Tamlyn
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
P. J. McKenna*
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
A. M. Mortimer
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
C. E. Lund
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
S. Hammond
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
A. D. Baddeley
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital and MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge; University Department of Psychiatry and High Royds Hospital, Leeds; St Luke's Hospital, Huddersfield
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr P. J. McKenna, Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge CBI 5EF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

In a sample of 60 schizophrenic patients encompassing all grades of severity and chronicity memory impairment was found to be prevalent, often substantial, and disproportionate to the overall level of intellectual impairment. The deficits were not easily attributable to poor cooperation, attention or motivation; nor were they related to neuroleptic or anticholinergic medication. Memory impairment was significantly associated with severity and chronicity of illness and also with negative symptoms and formal thought disorder. There was evidence from the sample as a whole, and from a more detailed examination of five patients with relatively isolated deficits, that schizophrenic memory impairment conformed to the pattern seen in the classical amnesic syndrome. Additionally, there was preliminary evidence for a marked deficit in semantic memory.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 1992 , pp. 101 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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

Referemces

Andreasen, N. C. (1982). Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: definition and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 784–788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andreasen, N. C. (1987). The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History. University of Iowa College of Medicine: Iowa City.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. & Olsen, S. (1982). Negative v. positive schizophrenia: definition and validation. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 789–794.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
Aylward, E., Walker, E. & Bettes, B. (1984). Intelligence in schizophrenia: meta-analysis of the research. Schizophrenia Bulletin 10, 430–459.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. (1986). Working Memory. Clarendon: Oxford.Google ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. (1990). Human Memory: Theory and Practice Erlbaum: Hove.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. & Wilson, B. (1988). Frontal amnesia and the dysexecutive syndrome. Brain and Cognition 7, 212–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D., Harris, J., Sunderland, A., Watts, K. P. & Wilson, B. A. (1987). Closed head injury and memory. In Neurobehavioral Recovery from Head Injury (ed. Levin, H. S., Grafman, J. and Eisenberg, H. M.), pp. 295–317. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Baker, L. A., Cheng, L. Y. & Amara, I. B. (1983). The withdrawal of benztropine mesylate in chronic schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 143, 584–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baker, R. R. (1968). The effects of psychotropic drugs on psychological testing. Psychological Bulletin 69, 377–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauman, E. & Murray, D. J. (1968). Recognition versus recall in schizophrenia. Canadian Journal of Psychology 22, 18–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bilder, R. M., Mukherjee, S., Rieder, M. D. & Pandurangi, A. K. (1985). Symptomatic and neuropsychological components of defect states. Schizophrenia Bulletin 11, 409–417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, E. (1911). Dementia Praecox, or the Group of Schizophrenias (translated 1950 by Zinkin, J.). International Universities Press: New York.Google Scholar
Broks, P., Preston, G. C., Traub, M., Poppleton, P., Ward, C. & Stahl, S. M. (1988). Modelling dementia: effects of scopolamine on memory and attention. Neuropsychologia 26, 685–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buhrich, N., Crow, T. J., Johnstone, E. C. & Owens, D. G. C. (1988). Age disorientation in chronic schizophrenia is not associated with pre-morbid intellectual impairment or past physical treatments. British Journal of Psychiatry 152, 466–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calev, A. (1984 a). Recall and recognition in chronic nondemented schizophrenics: use of matched tasks. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 93, 172–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calev, A. (1984 b). Recall and recognition in mildly disturbed schizophrenics: the use of matched tasks. Psychological Medicine 14, 425–429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calev, A., Berlin, H. & Lerer, B. (1987 a). Remote and recent memory in long-hospitalized chronic schizophrenics. Biological Psychiatry 22 79–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calev, A., Korin, Y., Kugelmass, S. & Lerer, B. (1987 b). Performance of chronic schizophrenics on matched word and design recall tasks. Biological Psychiatry 22, 699–709.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calev, A., Venables, P. H. & Monk, A. F. (1983). Evidence for distinct memory pathologies in severely and mildly disturbed schizophrenics. Schizophrenia Bulletin 9, 247–264.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
Crow, T. J. (1980). Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process? British Medical Journal 280, 66–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crow, T. J. (1986). Temporal disorientation in chronic schizophrenia: the implications of an ‘organic’ psychological impairment for the concept of ‘functional’ psychosis. In Contemporary Issues in Schizophrenia (ed. Kerr, A. and Snaith, R. P.), pp. 168–174. Royal College of Psychiatrists/Gaskell: London.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. & Grove-White, I. G. (1973). An analysis of the learning deficit following hyoscine administration to man. British Journal of Pharmacology 49, 322–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutting, J.C. (1985). The Psychology of Schizophrenia. Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. & Murphy, D. (1988). Schizophrenic thought disorder: a psychological and organic interpretation. British Journal of Psychiatry 152, 310–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drachman, D. A. (1977). Memory and cognitive function in man: does the cholinergic system have a specific role? Neurology 27, 783–790.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Endicott, J., Spitzer, R. C., Fliess, J. L. & Cohen, J. (1976). The global assessment scale. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 766–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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
Frith, C. D. (1984). Schizophrenia, memory and anticholinergic drugs. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 93, 339–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D. & Done, D. J. (1988). Towards a neuropsychology of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 437–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D., Stevens, M., Johnstone, E. C., Deakin, J. F. W., Lawler, P. & Crow, T. J. (1983). Effects of ECT and depression on various aspects of memory. British Journal of Psychiatry 142, 610–617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D., Richardson, J. T. E., Samuel, M., Crow, T. J. & McKenna, P. J. (1984). The effects of intravenous diazepam and hyoscine upon human memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 36A, 133–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D. R., Pliskin, N. H., Berman, K. F. & Podd, M. H. (1989). Recall memory deficit in schizophrenia: a possible manifestation of prefrontal dysfunction. Schizophrenia Research 2, 251–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golding, E. (1989). The Middlesex Elderly Assessment of Mental State. Thames Valley Test Co.: 34–36 The High St, Titchfield, Hants.Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. (1982). The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Function of the Septo-Hippocampal System. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Gray, J. A., Rawlins, J. N. P., Hemsley, D. R. & Smith, A. D. (1991). The neuropsychology of schizophrenia. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14, 1–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruzelier, J., Seymour, K., Wilson, L., Jolley, A. & Hirsch, S. (1988). Impairments on neuropsychological tests of temporohippocampal and frontohippocampal function in remitting schizophrenia and affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 45, 623–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heaton, R. K. & Crowley, T. J. (1981). Effects of psychiatric disorders and their somatic treatments on neuropsychological test results. In Handbook of Clinical Neuropsychology (ed. Filskov, S. B. and Boll, T. J.), pp. 481–525. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Janke, W. (1980). Psychometric and psychophysiological actions of antipsycholics in man. In Psychotropic Agents. Part I: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, Vol. 55 (ed. Hoffmeister, F. and Stille, G.), pp. 305–336. Springer Verlag: Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. M., Jones, M. E. L., Lewis, M. J. & Spriggs, T. C. B. (1979). Drugs and human memory: Effects of low doses of nitrazepam and hysocine on retention. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 7, 479–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, S. R., Opler, L. A. & Fiszbein, A. (1986). Significance of positive and negative syndromes in chronic schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 149, 439–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, D. J. (1990). The effect of neuroleptics on cognitive and psychomotor function. British Journal of Psychiatry 157, 799–811.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirkpatrick, B., Golden, R. N. & Fletcher, R. H. (1987). Is there a dementia of schizophrenia? Psychiatric Medicine 4, 253–263.Google Scholar
Koh, S. D. (1978). Remembering of verbal materials by schizophrenic young adults. In Language and Cognition in Schizophrenia (ed. Schwartz, S.), pp. 55–99. Erlbaum: Hillsdale, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I.Q. (1983). Performance or schizophrenic patients on tests sensitive to right or left frontal, temporal or parietal function in neurological patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171, 435–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koller, W. C. (1984). Disturbance of recent memory function in Parkinsonian patients on anticholinergic therapy. Cortex 20, 307–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kopelman, M. D., Wilson, B. A. & Baddeley, A. D. (1990). The Autobiographical Memory Interview. Thames Valley Test Co.: 7–9The Green, Flempton, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E. (1913). Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia (translated 1919 by Barclay, R. M.). Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Liddle, P. F. (1987). Schizophrenic syndromes, cognitive performance and neurological dysfunction. Psychological Medicine 17, 49–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liddle, P. F. & Crow, T. J. (1984). Age disorientation in chronic schizophrenia is associated with global intellectual impairment. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 193–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lund, C. E., Mortimer, A. M., McKenna, P. J. & Rogers, D. (1991). Motor, volitional and behavioural disorders in schizophrenia. I. Assessment using the Modified Rogers Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 158, 323–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKenna, P. J. (1987). Pathology, phenomenology and the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 151, 288–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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
Miller, E., Berrios, G. E. & Politynska, B. (1987). The adverse effect of benzhexol on memory in Parkinson's disease. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 76, 278–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milner, B. (1971). Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. British Medical Bulletin 27, 272–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, R. G. & Kopelman, M. D. (1986). The memory deficits in Alzheimer-type dementia: a review. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 38A, 575–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortimer, A. M, Lund, C. E. & McKenna, P. J. (1989). Rating of negative symptoms using the HEN scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 155, suppl. 7, 89–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortimer, A. M., Lund, C. E. & McKenna, P. J. (1990). The positive: negative dichotomy in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 156 41–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, H. E. (1982). The National Adult Reading Test (NART). NFER-Nelson: Windsor, Berks.Google Scholar
Owens, D. G. C. & Johnstone, E. C. (1980). The disabilities of chronic schizophrenia: their nature and the factors contributing to their development. British Journal of Psychiatry 136, 384–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, R. W. (1973). Cognitive abnormalities. In Handbook of Abnormal Psychology (ed. Eysenck, H. J.), pp. 420–483. Pitman: London.Google Scholar
Perlick, D., Stastny, P., Katz, I., Mayer, M. & Mattis, S. (1986). Memory deficits and anticholinergic levels in chronic schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 143, 230–232.Google ScholarPubMed
Poon, L. W. (1987). Sleep and Aging Progress Report (Cognitive Evaluation), University of Georgia Gerontology Center: Athens, Georgia.Google Scholar
Potiamnos, G. & Kellett, J. M. (1982). Anticholinergic drugs and memory: the effects of benzhexol on memory in a group of geriatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 140, 470–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G. & Taylor, P. J. (1985). Some cognitive correlates of schizophrenic illness. Psychological Medicine 15, 81–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, D. (1986). Cognitive disturbances: real or apparent? Psychiatry in Practice 5, 6–8.Google Scholar
Sadeh, M., Braham, J. & Modan, M. (1982). Effects of anticholinergic drugs on memory in Parkinson's disease. Archives of Neurology 39, 666–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shallice, T. (1988). From Neuropsychology to Mental Structure. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G. M. & Angus, J. W. S. (1970). Drug induced extrapyramidal disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica suppl., 212, 1–58.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. M., Lee, J. H., Zoubok, B. & Gardos, G. (1979). A rating scale for tardive dyskinesia. Psychopharmacology 64, 171–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spinnler, H., Della Sala, S., Bandera, R. & Baddeley, A. D. (1988). Dementia, ageing and the structure of human memory. Cognitive Neuropsychology 5, 193–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978). Research Diagnostic-Criteria for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders. Biometric Research, New York Slate Psychiatric Institute: New York.Google Scholar
Squire, L. R. (1987). Memory and Brain. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Squire, L. R. & Chace, P. M. (1975). Memory functions six to nine months after electroconvulsive therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry 32, 1557–1564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, M. (1979). The Famous Personality Test: a test for measuring remote memory. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 32, 211 (full version unpublished).Google Scholar
Syndulko, K., Gilden, E. R.. Hansch, E. C., Potvin, A. R., Tourtellote, W. W. & Potvin, J. H. (1981). Decreased verbal memory associated with anticholinergic treatment in Parkinson's disease patients. International Journal of Neuroscience 14, 61–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, M. A. & Abrams, R. (1984). Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 141, 196–201.Google ScholarPubMed
Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of Episodic Memory. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Tune, L. E., Strauss, M. E., Lew, M. F., Breitlinger, E. & Coyle, J. T. (1982). Serum levels of anticholinergic drugs and impaired recent memory in chronic schizophrenic patients. American Journal of Psychiatry 139, 1460–1462.Google ScholarPubMed
Waddington, J. C., Youssef, H. A., Dolphin, C. & Kinsella, A. (1987). Cognitive function, negative symptoms and tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 44, 907–912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warrington, E. K. (1984). Recognition Memory Test. NFER-Nelson: Windsor, Berks.Google Scholar
Williams, K. M., Iacono, W. I., Remick, R. A. & Greenwood, P. (1990). Dichotic perception and memory following electroconvulsive treatment for depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 157, 366–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, B. A., Cockburn, J. M. & Baddeley, A. D. (1985). The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Thames Valley Test Co.: 34–36 The High St, Titchfield, Hants.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