Immediate memory, attention and communication disturbances in schizophrenia patients and their relatives

Background. Schizophrenia has been defined in part by disturbances of thoug ht and language. The non-schizophrenic relatives of patients also have been found to show subtle disturbances of language that may be associated with vulnerability. Investigators have hypothesized that these phenomena in pati ents and their relatives are, at least in part, the result of weaknesses in facets of attention and memory. Methods. The present study assessed some neuropsychological process correla tes of three different measures of thought and language symptoms in 55 stab le out-patients, using tests of immediate auditory memory impairment and au ditory distractability, and carefully controlling for generalized deficit e ffects. A parallel assessment was made of referential communication disturb ances in 59 nonschizophrenic relatives of patients and 24 control subjects matched to the relatives. Results. In patients, formal thought disorder, disorganization, and referen tial communication disturbances were all associated with each other and wit h auditory distractability. In addition, as expected, referential communica tion disturbances were associated with immediate auditory memory impairment . Referential disturbance ratings for relatives were similar in magnitude t o those for the stable out-patients, and much higher than for controls. How ever, the relatives' language ratings were not associated specifically with weaknesses in attention or memory as measured. Conclusions. Impairments in immediate auditory memory and attention are ass ociated differentially with different types of communication disturbances i n schizophrenia patients. The cognitive substrate for referential communica tion disturbances in relatives appears to differ qualitatively from that fo r patients.