WORKING-MEMORY, ATTENTION, AND COMMUNICATION DISTURBANCES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

The authors hypothesized that schizophrenic communication disturbances reflect specific cognitive deficits in the areas of working memory an d attention. They examined the cognitive correlates of communication d isturbances, as measured by linguistic reference performance, in schiz ophrenic (n = 48), bipolar (n = 24), and nonpsychiatric control (n = 2 3) individuals. Reference performance ratings in the schizophrenic pat ients were associated with scores on tests of working memory and atten tion and were not related to performance on concept formation or verba l fluency tests. In contrast, in the bipolar and nonpsychiatric indivi duals, reference performance was associated with concept formation and verbal fluency test scores but was not related to performance on test s of working memory. Implications with respect to the processes underl ying schizophrenic communication disturbances are discussed.