Visuospatial working memory in schizotypal personality disorder patients

Background: Cognitive processing deficits have been identified as an abnorm ality that schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) individuals share with sc hizophrenic patients. It has been hypothesized that impaired working memory may be a critical component of several of the more complex cognitive defic its found in schizophrenia spectrum patients. Method: 18 DSM-III-R SPD pati ents, and 17 normal comparison subjects were compared on a pen and paper vi suospatial working memory task. Moreover, we identified a second psychiatri c comparison group comprised of nine patients with other, non-odd cluster p ersonality disorder diagnoses who met no more than one of the SPD criteria and were also tested on the same task. Each person was given 14 immediate r ecall trials and 10 trials using a 10 s delay. Results: SPD patients perfor med significantly worse than normal Control subjects on the working memory task. SPD patients also performed significantly worse compared to the nbn-s chizophrenia-related personality disorder psychiatric comparison group. Con clusions: Like schizophrenic patients. SPD patients demonstrate working mem ory impairment compared to normal controls. This impairment may be specific to the schizophrenia-related personality disorders. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.