PATTERNS OF CONTENT, CONTEXTUAL, AND WORKING-MEMORY IMPAIRMENTS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND NONAMNESIC ALCOHOLISM

This study used tests of content memory (item recognition of words and abstract designs), context memory (order recognition of verbal and no nverbal items), and working memory (recognition at a short retention i nterval) to examine patterns of performance in 27 schizophrenic patien ts, 52 chronic alcoholic patients, and 66 healthy control participants . When performance was age- and IQ-adjusted the schizophrenia group wa s significantly impaired in item and order recognition of verbal and n onverbal material; the alcoholic group was impaired only in order reco gnition for both material types. Item- and order-recognition deficits in the schizophrenia group were greatest at the shortest retention int ervals, a pattern previously observed in patients with Parkinson's dis ease, suggesting a prominence of a working memory deficit in schizophr enia.