MEMORY DEFICITS IN SUBSYNDROMES OF CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIA

Recent psychopathological studies consistently identified a delusional , a negative, and a disorganized subsyndrome in chronic schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to investigate these subsyndromes wi th respect to declarative, procedural, and working memory deficits. Wh ile the delusional subsyndrome was associated with an impaired delayed recognition, the negative subsyndrome showed a marked deficit in dela yed recall. In addition, the delusional and the negative subsyndrome s hared procedural memory changes. The disorganized subsyndrome was asso ciated with neurological soft signs and a poor working memory performa nce. These results do not seem to be effected by severity of illness, degree of chronicity, nor attentional deficits. Our findings support t he differentiation of three subsyndromes in chronic schizophrenia and suggest that memory impairment in schizophrenia may reflect the involv ement of different memory systems rather than an unspecific, global de ficit.