Abstract
Background: Humans constantly take in vast amounts of information, which must be filtered, flexibly manipulated, and integrated into cohesive relational memories in order to choose relevant behaviors. Relational memory is impaired in chronic schizophrenia, which has been linked to hippocampal dysfunction. It is unclear whether relational memory is impaired in the early stage of psychosis. Methods: We studied eye movements during a face-scene pairs task as an indirect measure of relational memory in 89 patients in the early stage of psychosis and 84 healthy control participants. During testing, scenes were overlaid with three equally-familiar faces and participants were asked to recall the matching (i.e. previously-paired) face. During Match trials, one face had been previously paired with the scene. During Non-Match trials, no faces matched the scene. Forced-choice explicit recognition was recorded as a direct measure of relational memory. Results: Healthy control subjects rapidly (within 250–500 ms) showed preferential viewing of the matching face during Match trials. In contrast, preferential viewing was delayed in patients in the early stage of psychosis. Explicit recognition of the matching face was also impaired in the patient group. Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence for a relational memory deficit in the early stage of psychosis. Patients showed deficits in both explicit recognition as well as abnormal eye-movement patterns during memory recall. Eye movements provide a promising avenue for the study of relational memory in psychosis, as they allow for the assessment of rapid, nonverbal memory processes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 113-120 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Schizophrenia Research |
| Volume | 212 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- Associative memory
- Eye movements
- First episode
- Hippocampus
- Schizophrenia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry
Cite this
Impaired relational memory in the early stage of psychosis. / Avery, Suzanne N.; Armstrong, Kristan; Blackford, Jennifer U.; Woodward, Neil D.; Cohen, Neal J; Heckers, Stephan.
In: Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 212, 01.10.2019, p. 113-120.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Impaired relational memory in the early stage of psychosis
AU - Avery, Suzanne N.
AU - Armstrong, Kristan
AU - Blackford, Jennifer U.
AU - Woodward, Neil D.
AU - Cohen, Neal J
AU - Heckers, Stephan
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - Background: Humans constantly take in vast amounts of information, which must be filtered, flexibly manipulated, and integrated into cohesive relational memories in order to choose relevant behaviors. Relational memory is impaired in chronic schizophrenia, which has been linked to hippocampal dysfunction. It is unclear whether relational memory is impaired in the early stage of psychosis. Methods: We studied eye movements during a face-scene pairs task as an indirect measure of relational memory in 89 patients in the early stage of psychosis and 84 healthy control participants. During testing, scenes were overlaid with three equally-familiar faces and participants were asked to recall the matching (i.e. previously-paired) face. During Match trials, one face had been previously paired with the scene. During Non-Match trials, no faces matched the scene. Forced-choice explicit recognition was recorded as a direct measure of relational memory. Results: Healthy control subjects rapidly (within 250–500 ms) showed preferential viewing of the matching face during Match trials. In contrast, preferential viewing was delayed in patients in the early stage of psychosis. Explicit recognition of the matching face was also impaired in the patient group. Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence for a relational memory deficit in the early stage of psychosis. Patients showed deficits in both explicit recognition as well as abnormal eye-movement patterns during memory recall. Eye movements provide a promising avenue for the study of relational memory in psychosis, as they allow for the assessment of rapid, nonverbal memory processes.
AB - Background: Humans constantly take in vast amounts of information, which must be filtered, flexibly manipulated, and integrated into cohesive relational memories in order to choose relevant behaviors. Relational memory is impaired in chronic schizophrenia, which has been linked to hippocampal dysfunction. It is unclear whether relational memory is impaired in the early stage of psychosis. Methods: We studied eye movements during a face-scene pairs task as an indirect measure of relational memory in 89 patients in the early stage of psychosis and 84 healthy control participants. During testing, scenes were overlaid with three equally-familiar faces and participants were asked to recall the matching (i.e. previously-paired) face. During Match trials, one face had been previously paired with the scene. During Non-Match trials, no faces matched the scene. Forced-choice explicit recognition was recorded as a direct measure of relational memory. Results: Healthy control subjects rapidly (within 250–500 ms) showed preferential viewing of the matching face during Match trials. In contrast, preferential viewing was delayed in patients in the early stage of psychosis. Explicit recognition of the matching face was also impaired in the patient group. Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence for a relational memory deficit in the early stage of psychosis. Patients showed deficits in both explicit recognition as well as abnormal eye-movement patterns during memory recall. Eye movements provide a promising avenue for the study of relational memory in psychosis, as they allow for the assessment of rapid, nonverbal memory processes.
KW - Associative memory
KW - Eye movements
KW - First episode
KW - Hippocampus
KW - Schizophrenia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070218630&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85070218630&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.060
DO - 10.1016/j.schres.2019.07.060
M3 - Article
VL - 212
SP - 113
EP - 120
JO - Schizophrenia Research
JF - Schizophrenia Research
SN - 0920-9964
ER -