Medications and verbal memory impairment in schizophrenia: the role of anticholinergic drugs

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. BRÉBION ◽  
R. A. BRESSAN ◽  
X. AMADOR ◽  
D. MALASPINA ◽  
J. M. GORMAN
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Antipsychotic Medication ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Anticholinergic Medication ◽  
Anticholinergic Drugs ◽  
Anticholinergic Activity ◽  
Semantic Organization

Background. We wished to assess the effect of three types of medication on verbal memory impairments in schizophrenia.Method. Forty-eight patients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy control subjects underwent a battery of verbal memory tasks, including free recall, recognition and short-term memory span. All the patients were on antipsychotic medication. In addition, 24 were taking anticholinergic drugs (benztropine) and 30 were taking benzodiazepines. A subsample of 39 had clinical ratings for depressive symptoms. Regression analyses were conducted on the memory measures in this subsample, with negative symptoms, depression, type of antipsychotic medication (conventional v. atypical), benzodiazepines and anticholinergic drugs as predictors.Results. Type of antipsychotic medication made no significant contribution to memory deficits and benzodiazepine use made very little contribution. However, anticholinergic medication was a predictor of memory impairment, especially with regard to semantic organization. Complementary analyses revealed that patients taking any type of drug with anticholinergic activity (benztropine and/or antipsychotic agents) were significantly impaired relative to the other patients on measures reflecting free recall efficiency and semantic organization.Conclusions. Drugs with anticholinergic activity are the major pharmacological agents that contribute to the verbal memory deficit observed in patients with schizophrenia. These drugs appear to act by impeding semantic organization at encoding.

Decreased processing speed might account for working memory span deficit in schizophrenia, and might mediate the associations between working memory span and clinical symptoms

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 473-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Brébion ◽  
C. Stephan-Otto ◽  
E. Huerta-Ramos ◽  
J. Usall ◽  
M. Perez del Olmo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Motor Speed ◽  
Speed Measure ◽  
Cognitive Speed

AbstractObjectiveVerbal working memory span is decreased in patients with schizophrenia, and this might contribute to impairment in higher cognitive functions as well as to the formation of certain clinical symptoms. Processing speed has been identified as a crucial factor in cognitive efficiency in this population. We tested the hypothesis that decreased processing speed underlies the verbal working memory deficit in patients and mediates the associations between working memory span and clinical symptoms.MethodForty-nine schizophrenia inpatients recruited from units for chronic and acute patients, and forty-five healthy participants, were involved in the study. Verbal working memory span was assessed by means of the letter-number span. The Digit Copy test was used to assess motor speed, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test to assess cognitive speed.ResultsThe working memory span was significantly impaired in patients (F(1,90) = 4.6, P < 0.05). However, the group difference was eliminated when either the motor or the cognitive speed measure was controlled (F(1,89) = 0.03, P = 0.86, and F(1,89) = 0.03, P = 0.88). In the patient group, working memory span was significantly correlated with negative symptoms (r = –0.52, P < 0.0001) and thought disorganisation (r = –0.34, P < 0.025) scores. Regression analyses showed that the association with negative symptoms was no longer significant when the motor speed measure was controlled (β = –0.12, P = 0.20), while the association with thought disorganisation was no longer significant when the cognitive speed measure was controlled (β = –0.10, P = 0.26).ConclusionsDecrement in motor and cognitive speed plays a significant role in both the verbal working memory impairment observed in patients and the associations between verbal working memory impairment and clinical symptoms.

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

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Tamlyn ◽  
P. J. McKenna ◽  
A. M. Mortimer ◽  
C. E. Lund ◽  
S. Hammond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Anticholinergic Medication ◽  
Intellectual Impairment ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Amnesic Syndrome ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Marked Deficit

SYNOPSISIn 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.

scholarly journals Reduced Hippocampal Volume and Its Relationship With Verbal Memory and Negative Symptoms in Treatment-Naive First-Episode Adolescent-Onset Schizophrenia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xujun Duan ◽  
Changchun He ◽  
Jianjun Ou ◽  
Runshi Wang ◽  
Jinming Xiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Hippocampal Volume ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Hippocampal Morphometry ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Accumulating neuroimaging evidence has shown remarkable volume reductions in the hippocampi of patients with schizophrenia. However, the relationship among hippocampal morphometry, clinical symptoms, and cognitive impairments in schizophrenia is still unclear. In this study, high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired in 36 patients with adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS, age range: 13–18 years) and 30 age-, gender-, and education-matched typically developing controls (TDCs). Hippocampal volume was assessed automatically through volumetric segmentation and measurement. After adjusting for total intracranial volume, we found reduced hippocampal volume in individuals with AOS compared with TDCs, and the hippocampal volume was positively correlated with verbal memory and negatively correlated with negative symptoms in AOS. In addition, mediation analysis revealed the indirect effect of hippocampal volume on negative symptoms via verbal memory impairment. When the negative symptoms were represented by 2 dimensions of deficits in emotional expression (EXP) and deficits in motivation and pleasure (MAP), the indirect effect was significant for EXP but not for MAP. Our findings provide further evidence of hippocampal volume reduction in AOS and highlight verbal memory impairment as a mediator to influence the relationship between hippocampal morphometry and negative symptoms, especially the EXP dimension of negative symptoms, in individuals with AOS.

Semantic Organization and Verbal Memory Efficiency in Patients With Schizophrenia.

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 378-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gildas Brébion ◽  
Anthony S. David ◽  
Hugh Jones ◽  
Lyn S. Pilowsky
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Memory Efficiency

Comparison of verbal memory impairment rates in mild cognitive impairment

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 630-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Tremont ◽  
Andrea Miele ◽  
Megan M. Smith ◽  
Holly James Westervelt
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Impairment

scholarly journals Inter-identity amnesia for neutral episodic self-referential and autobiographical memory in Dissociative Identity Disorder: An assessment of recall and recognition

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0245849
Author(s):  
Rosemary J. Marsh ◽  
Martin J. Dorahy ◽  
Chandele Butler ◽  
Warwick Middleton ◽  
Peter J. de Jong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Partial Information ◽  
Dissociative Identity Disorder ◽  
The Other ◽  
Full Information ◽  
Autobiographical Memories ◽  
Memory Transfer ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Diagnostic Criterion

Amnesia is a core diagnostic criterion for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), however previous research has indicated memory transfer. As DID has been conceptualised as being a disorder of distinct identities, in this experiment, behavioral tasks were used to assess the nature of amnesia for episodic 1) self-referential and 2) autobiographical memories across identities. Nineteen DID participants, 16 DID simulators, 21 partial information, and 20 full information comparison participants from the general population were recruited. In the first study, participants were presented with two vignettes (DID and simulator participants received one in each of two identities) and asked to imagine themselves in the situations outlined. The second study used a similar methodology but with tasks assessing autobiographical experience. Subjectively, all DID participants reported amnesia for events that occurred in the other identity. On free recall and recognition tasks they presented a memory profile of amnesia similar to simulators instructed to feign amnesia and partial information comparisons. Yet, on tests of recognition, DID participants recognized significantly more of the event that occurred in another identity than simulator and partial information comparisons. As such, results indicate that the DID performance profile was not accounted for by true or feigned amnesia, lending support to the idea that reported amnesia may be more of a perceived than actual memory impairment.

scholarly journals Distinct cortical systems reinstate the content and context of episodic memories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Kragel ◽  
Youssef Ezzyat ◽  
Bradley C. Lega ◽  
Michael R. Sperling ◽  
Gregory A. Worrell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Temporal Context ◽  
Cortical Networks ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Episodic Memories

AbstractEpisodic recall depends upon the reinstatement of cortical activity present during the formation of a memory. We identified dissociable cortical networks via functional connectivity that uniquely reinstated semantic content and temporal context of previously studied stimuli during free recall. Network-specific reinstatement predicted the temporal and semantic organization of recall sequences, demonstrating how specialized cortical systems enable the human brain to target specific memories.

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