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Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to investigate different
processes subserving recognition memory in schizophrenic patients
and matched controls. Subjects studied visually presented,
semantically unrelated words in an association task. At test,
event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded as they made an
old/new judgment to an equal mixture of new and previously studied
words. In addition, participants were required to relate their
"old" recognition decision to an introspective judgment about
whether recognition was accompanied by the recollection of any
aspect of the study episode, in which case a "Remember " or
R-response was made, or whether instead the participant just knew
that the item was old, in which case a "Know " or K-response was
made. Preliminary data suggest that compared to controls, the lower
recognition rate in schizophrenic patients was associated with
fewer R- responses suggesting a selective impairment of conscious
recollection. These behavioral findings were paralleled by the ERPs
which elicited an old/new effect over temporoparietal and frontal
sites only in data from controls, that was more sustained for R-
than for K-responses, supporting the evidence that this effect
indexes conscious recollection.
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