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Abstract:
Research conducted by our group and others suggests that some
individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate a specific dysfunction
in a combination of cognitive processes involved in the
reconstruction of verbal episodic memories. We were interested in
the extent and nature of this dysfunction and adopted a
neuropsychological case study approach to examine false recall and
recognition in a group of individuals with DSM-IV schizophrenia. An
adaptation of the DRM false memory paradigm was employed, with
stimuli coming from two sources (male vs. female voice). Clinical
subjects also completed a battery of cognitive instruments
measuring; attention/concentration, premorbid IQ, verbal and
semantic fluency, working memory and disinhibition. Comparison was
made with data taken form an Australian sample of undergraduates
(n=23) on the same false memory task. As expected on the free
recall task, clinical subjects recalled proportionally less target
and lure words than the control group. However, a different
response pattern was observed in the false recognition task. While
both groups had equivalent recognition rates for target items the
clinical group made proportionally more false recognition errors.
Differences in false recognition between subjects in the clinical
group appear to be related to individual differences in semantic
and verbal fluency. These results are consistent with our model of
episodic memory dysfunction in schizophrenia.
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