Memory performance and instructional effects in schizophrenia: A comparison between chronic schizophrenics and sane persons

34 chronically schizophrenic persons were matched with 34 healthy control p articipants according to age, level of education, and sex and received memo ry tests (short-term, priming, working, prospective, episodic, source and s emantic long-term memory) and tests of attention and intelligence. Patients performed worse on all tests. The patients' memory deficits compared with controls are nearly one standard deviation greater than the differences in attention and intelligence. The deficits are smaller for priming and semant ic long-term memory than for short-term, working, prospective, episodic, an d source memory. After one short instruction all patients and controls rece ived a repeat administration of the tests. Patients showed a lower, but als o significant improvement for short-term, working, and prospective memory. We conclude that schizophrenia patients might suffer from specific memory d eficits (specific vulnerability of strategic and thus of interference- or c ontext-sensitive memory tasks) not attributable to more general psychopatho logic symptoms.