Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T03:29:45.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Role of processing speed and depressed mood on encoding, storage, and retrieval memory functions in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2006

GILDAS BRÉBION
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom Cognitive Psychopathology Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
ANTHONY S. DAVID
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
RODRIGO A. BRESSAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
LYN S. PILOWSKY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

The role of various types of slowing of processing speed, as well as the role of depressed mood, on each stage of verbal memory functioning in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia was investigated. Mixed lists of high- and low-frequency words were presented, and immediate and delayed free recall and recognition were required. Two levels of encoding were studied by contrasting the relatively automatic encoding of the high-frequency words and the more effortful encoding of the low-frequency words. Storage was studied by contrasting immediate and delayed recall. Retrieval was studied by contrasting free recall and recognition. Three tests of motor and cognitive processing speed were administered as well. Regression analyses involving the three processing speed measures revealed that cognitive speed was the only predictor of the recall and recognition of the low-frequency words. Furthermore, slowing in cognitive speed accounted for the deficit in recall and recognition of the low-frequency words relative to a healthy control group. Depressed mood was significantly associated with recognition of the low-frequency words. Neither processing speed nor depressed mood was associated with storage efficiency. It is concluded that both cognitive speed slowing and depressed mood impact on effortful encoding processes. (JINS, 2007, 13, 99–107.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 The International Neuropsychological Society

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

REFERENCES

Aleman, A., Hijman, R., de Haan, E.H.F., & Kahn, R.S. (1999). Memory impairment in schizophrenia: A meta analysis. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 13581366.Google Scholar
Badcock, J.C., Williams, R.J., Anderson, M., & Jablensky, A. (2004). Speed of processing and individual differences in IQ in schizophrenia: General or specific cognitive deficits? Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 9, 233247.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A.D. (2002). The Psychology of Memory. In A.D. Baddeley, M.D. Kopelman, & B.A. Wilson (Eds.), The Handbook of Memory Disorders. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bell, M.D. & Mishara, A.L. (2006). Does negative symptom change relate to neurocognitive change in schizophrenia? Implications for targeted treatments. Schizophrenia Research, 81, 1727.Google Scholar
Brébion, G., David, A.S., Bressan, R.A., & Pilowsky, L.S. (2005). Word frequency effects on free recall and recognition in patients with schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 39, 215222.Google Scholar
Brébion, G., David, A.S., Bressan, R.A., & Pilowsky, L.S. (2006). Processing speed: A strong predictor of verbal memory performance in schizophrenia. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 28, 370382.Google Scholar
Brébion, G., Gorman, J., Malaspina, D., Sharif, Z., & Amador, X. (2001). Clinical and cognitive factors associated with verbal memory task performance in patients with schizophrenia. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 758764.Google Scholar
Brébion, G., Smith, M., Amador, X., Malaspina, D., & Gorman, J. (1997). Clinical correlates of memory in schizophrenia: Differential links between depression, positive and negative symptoms, and two types of memory impairment. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 15381543.Google Scholar
Burgess, N. & Hitch, G.J. (1992). Toward a network model of the articulatory loop. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 429460.Google Scholar
Burt, D.B., Zembar, M.J., & Niederehe, G. (1995). Depression and memory impairment: A meta-analysis of the association, its pattern, and specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 285305.Google Scholar
Chiaravalloti, N.D., Christodoulou, C., Demaree, H.A., & DeLuca, J. (2003). Differentiating simple versus complex processing speed: Influence on new learning and memory performance. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 25, 489501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cirillo, M.A. & Seidman, L.J. (2003). Verbal declarative memory dysfunction in schizophrenia: From clinical assessment to genetics and brain mechanisms. Neuropsychology Review, 13, 4377.Google Scholar
Corwin, J. (1994). On measuring discrimination and response bias: Unequal numbers of targets and distractors and two classes of distractors. Neuropsychology, 8, 110117.Google Scholar
Grober, E. & Buschke, H. (1987). Genuine memory deficits in dementia. Developmental Neuropsychology, 3, 1336.Google Scholar
Hartlage, S., Alloy, L.B., Vasquez, C., & Dykman, B. (1993). Automatic and effortful processing in depression. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 247278.Google Scholar
Hartman, M., Steketee, M.C., Silva, S., Lanning, K., & McCann, H. (2003). Working memory and schizophrenia: Evidence for slowed encoding. Schizophrenia Research, 59, 99113.Google Scholar
Hill, S.K., Beers, S.R., Kmiec, J.A., Keshavan, M.S., & Sweeney, J.A. (2004). Impairment of verbal memory and learning in antipsychotic-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 68, 127136.Google Scholar
Holthausen, E.A.E., Wiersma, D., Knegtering, R.H., & Van den Bosch, R.J. (1999). Psychopathology and cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: The role of depressive symptoms. Schizophrenia Research, 39, 6571Google Scholar
Holthausen, E.A.E., Wiersma, D., Sitskoorn, M.M., Dingemans, P.M., Schene, A.H., & van den Bosch, R.J. (2003). Long-term memory deficits in schizophrenia: Primary or secondary dysfunction? Neuropsychology, 17, 539547.Google Scholar
Jogems-Kosterman, B.J.M., Zitman, F.G., Van Hoof, J.J.M., & Hulstijn, W. (2001). Psychomotor slowing and planning deficits in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 48, 317333.Google Scholar
Joy, S., Kaplan, E., & Fein, D. (2004). Speed and memory in the WAIS-III Digit Symbol-Coding subtest across the adult lifespan. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19, 759767.Google Scholar
Kieseppa, T., Tuulio-Henriksson, A., Haukka, J., Van Erp, T., Glahn, D., Cannon, T.D., Partonen, T., Kaprio, J., & Lonnqvist, J. (2005). Memory and verbal learning functions in twins with bipolar-I disorder, and the role of information-processing speed. Psychological Medicine, 35, 205215.Google Scholar
Kohler, C., Gur, R.C., Swanson, C.L., Petty, R., & Gur, R.E. (1998). Depression in schizophrenia: Association with neuropsychological deficits, Biological Psychiatry, 43, 165172.Google Scholar
Kucera, H. & Francis, W.N. (1967). Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University Press.
Lucas, S., Fitzgerald, D., Redoblado-Hodge, M.A., Anderson, J., Sanbrook, M., Harris, A., & Brennan, J. (2004). Neuropsychological correlates of symptom profiles in first episode schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 71, 323330.Google Scholar
Lysaker, P.H., Bell, M.D., Greig, T.C., & Bryson, G.J. (2000). Emotional discomfort and impairments in verbal memory in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 97, 5159.Google Scholar
Lysaker, P.H., Bryson, G.J., Davis, L.W., & Bell, M.D. (2005). Relationship of impaired processing speed and flexibility of abstract thought to improvements in work performance over time in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 75, 211218.Google Scholar
Malmberg, K.J. & Nelson, T.O. (2003). The word frequency effect for recognition memory and the elevated-attention hypothesis. Memory & Cognition, 31, 3543.Google Scholar
Milev, P., Ho, B.C., Arndt, S., & Andreasen, N.C. (2005). Predictive values of neurocognition and negative symptoms on functional outcome in schizophrenia: A longitudinal first-episode study with 7-year follow-up. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 495506.Google Scholar
Moritz, S., Heeren, D., Andresen, B., & Krausz, M. (2001). An analysis of the specificity and the syndromal correlates of verbal memory impairments in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 101, 2331.Google Scholar
Morrens, M., Hulstijn, W., Van Hecke, J., Peuskens, J., & Sabbe, B.G.C. (2006). Sensorimotor and cognitive slowing in schizophrenia as measured by the Symbol Digit Substitution Test. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 40, 200206Google Scholar
Nelson, H.E., Pantelis, C., Carruthers, K., Speller, J., Baxendale, S., & Barnes T.R.E. (1990). Cognitive functioning and symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 20, 357365.Google Scholar
Reitan, R.M. (1958). Validity of the Trail Making Test as an indicator of organic brain damage. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 8, 271276.Google Scholar
Salamé, P., Danion, J-M., Peretti, S., & Cuervo, C. (1998). The state of functioning of working memory in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 30, 1129.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (1994). The aging of working memory. Neuropsychology, 8, 535543.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 103, 403428.Google Scholar
Sanfilipo, M., Lafargue, T., Rusinek, H., Arena, L., Loneragan, C., Lautin, A., Rotrosen, J., & Wolkin, A. (2002). Cognitive performance in schizophrenia: Relationship to regional brain volumes and psychiatric symptoms. Psychiatry Research-Neuroimaging, 116, 123.Google Scholar
Schacter, D.L. & Tulving, E. (1994). Memory systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Schatz, J. (1998). Cognitive processing efficiency in schizophrenia: Generalized vs domain specific deficits. Schizophrenia Research, 30, 4149.Google Scholar
Stroop, J.R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643662.Google Scholar
van Beilen, M., Pijnenborg, M., van Zomeren, E.H., van den Bosch, R.J., Withaar, F.K., & Bouma, A. (2004). What is measured by verbal fluency tests in schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Research, 69, 267276.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1981). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. New York: Psychological Corporation.