Neuropsychological assessment of memory in child and adolescent first episode psychosis: Cannabis and the «paradox effect»

Abstract

IntroductionThe importance of neuropsychological functioning in First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) has led to the publication of a growing number of studies in this area of research. The present study pursued three goals: first, to examine verbal and visual memory in a sample of Child and Adolescent FEP, second, to evaluate the effect of other cognitive domains on verbal and visual memory, and finally, to examine the relationship between performance in this cognitive dimension and the use of cannabis at this age. MethodA sample of 41 FEPs and 39 healthy subjects were evaluated. The variables assessed were verbal and visual memory, attention, working memory, processing speed, mental flexibility, verbal fluency, motor coordination, planning ability and intelligence. ResultsOur results found impairment of short and long-term recall of verbal memory, and short-term visual memory in early psychosis. They also found relationships between cognitive dimensions, such as visual memory and intelligence and motor coordination. Finally, a «paradoxical» effect was found in patients who used cannabis, as the FEP consumers performed the visual memory test better than those who had not used it. ConclusionsPatients showed impairment of short and long-term recall of verbal information and short-term visual reproduction. In the second place, motor coordination and intelligence influenced short-term visual memory in patients in the early stages of the illness. Third, use of cannabis in patients with FEP was associated with better performance in the test that evaluated the short-term visual memory, as measured by task completion time, that is, efficiency in performing the test. However, when measured by task execution accuracy, their visual memory was no better than the controls.