FUNCTIONAL IMAGING AND COGNITIVE ABNORMALITIES

From its initial labelling as dementia praecox, the disorder we now ca ll schizophrenia has always been associated with cognitive impairments . While there was a time when these deficits were believed to be secon dary to treatment and institutionalisation, there is now overwhelming evidence that cognitive impairments are an essential feature of schizo phrenia. Precise specification of the form of these impairments has im portant implications for the nature of the underlying brain malfunctio n.