Neuropsychological Profile of Specific Executive Dysfunctions in Patients with Deficit and Non-deficit Schizophrenia.

Ernest Tyburski,Monika Mak,Agnieszka Samochowiec,Justyna Pełka-Wysiecka,Jerzy Samochowiec,Przemysław Bieńkowski

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01459

Abstract

Objectives: Although it has been shown that there are more profound deficits present in deficit schizophrenia (DS) patients than in non-deficit schizophrenia (NDS) patients, there still remain some matters requiring further investigation. In this context, we formulated three research aims: (1) to compare executive functions between the investigated groups, (2) to determine the relationship between particular aspects of executive functions within the groups, and (3) to draw up a neuropsychological profile for executive functions.Methods: The study involved 148 schizophrenia patients divided into two groups on the basis of the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome: DS (n = 70) and NDS (n = 78). Patients were matched for sex, age, years of education, and overall cognitive functioning. For assessing executive functions we used the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Trail Making Test (TMT), the Phonemic Verbal Fluency Test (VFT P), the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT), and the Go/No Go task (GNG).Results: Deficit schizophrenia patients scored lower on the WCST and TMT (relative flexibility) than did the NDS patients. There were no inter-group differences in the VFT P, SCWT (relative inhibition), or GNG. There were significant correlations between WCST and TMT scores in both groups. The general neuropsychological profiles were similar in both groups.Conclusion: Deficit schizophrenia patients exhibited slightly greater interference with concept formation and non-verbal cognitive flexibility. Therefore, such problems may be specific to this particular type of schizophrenia. These results may be useful for the development of neuropsychological diagnostic methods for patients with schizophrenia.

Highlights

There is an ongoing discussion about whether different types of schizophrenia are associated with specific types of executive dysfunction (Brazo et al, 2002; Simon et al, 2009; Fioravanti et al, 2012; Hegde et al, 2013; Ventura et al, 2013)
No differences were observed in verbal cognitive flexibility (VFT P) and cognitive (SCWT RI) or motor inhibition (GNG)
The results in this paper are in line with other research and require further empirical validation

Summary

Introduction

There is an ongoing discussion about whether different types of schizophrenia are associated with specific types of executive dysfunction (Brazo et al, 2002; Simon et al, 2009; Fioravanti et al, 2012; Hegde et al, 2013; Ventura et al, 2013). Executive Dysfunctions in Patients with Deficit Schizophrenia ‘deficit schizophrenia’ was first suggested by Carpenter et al (1988) as a type of schizophrenia with dominant negative symptoms persisting for a long time. Among these are persistent and primary negative symptoms such as social withdrawal, poverty of speech, limited content of verbal expression, apathy, and blunting of affect (Strauss et al, 2010). Longitudinal analyses show that these symptoms are stable over time (Tek et al, 2001; Chemerinski et al, 2006; Strauss et al, 2010). The occurrence of the two latter types of symptoms may be associated with executive function impairments

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Discussion

Conclusion