RECENT AND REMOTE MEMORY DISSOCIATION - MEDICATION EFFECTS AND HIPPOCAMPAL FUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Neuropsychological measures of recent and remote memory as well as gen eral attention were administered to two groups of DSM-III-R schizophre nic patients in a within-subject repeated measures design across a 3-w eek interval, One group of patients (n = 12) was maintained on haloper idol for both test sessions, whereas a second group (n = 9) was rested first on haloperidol and again S-weeks drug free. Patients received n o adjunctive anticholinergic medication during the study. No differenc es were observed between the patient groups in level of psychotic symp tomatology or general attention across the two test sessions, Patients withdrawn from haloperidol showed significant decreases in recent ver bal memory function, while at the same time demonstrating significant increases in remote verbal memory, We speculate that the observed patt ern of results is consistent with medial temporal lobe dysfunction par ticularly prominent in the left hemisphere as patients become drug fre e, and provides support for the existence of state-dependent cognitive changes in schizophrenia. (C) 1997 Society of Biological Psychiatry.