Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-29T20:04:58.929Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: Maze-Solving Behavior in Treated and Untreated Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

B. Gallhofer ,
S. Krieger ,
S. Lis ,
L. Hargarter ,
C. Roder ,
C. Lammers  and
A. Meyer-Lindenberg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this article, we present data on the analysis of maze-solving behavior as a tool for the investigation of cognitive disturbance in schizophrenic patients. Solving maze tasks efficiently requires both an interaction between and an integration of perceptive and action-oriented processes. Starting from the hypothesis that these domains are preferentially disturbed in schizophrenia, we propose that the maze-solving behavior of schizophrenic patients permits insight into specific impairments in disease-related cognitive processing. We present the results of a maze task study comparing medication-free schizophrenic patients and matched healthy controls. This analysis forms the basis for an investigation of the influence of psychopharmacological treatment strategies on the observed behavior in the maze-solving paradigm. Finally, a third study concerned with improvement over time associated with medication is presented, and possible influences of extrapyramidal motor disturbances on schizophrenic patients' maze performance are discussed.

Type
Feature Article
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 2 , Issue 8: The Maze of Cognitive Dysfunction , September 1997 , pp. 26 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.lacono, WG, Tuason, VB, Johnson, RA. Dissociation of smooth-pursuit and saccadic eye tracking in remitted schizophrenics: an ocular reaction time task that schizophrenic perform well. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1981:38:991-996.Google Scholar
2.lacono, WG, Moreau, M, Beiser, M, Fleming, JA, Lin, TY. Smooth pursuit eye tracking in first-episode psychotic patients and their relatives. J Abnorm Psychology. 1992:101:104-116.Google Scholar
3.Grawe, RW, Lavander, S. Smooth pursuit eye movements and neuropsychological impairments in schizophrenia. Ada Psychiatr Scand. 1995:2:108-114.Google Scholar
4.Franke, P, Maier, W, Hardt, J, Frieboes, R, Lichtermann, D, Hain, C. Assessment of frontal lobe functioning in schizophrenia and unipolar major depression. Psychopathology. 1993:26:76-84.Google Scholar
5.Winocur, A, Moscovitch, M. Hippocampal and prefrontal cortex contribution to learning and memory: analysis of lesion and aging effects on maze learning in rats. Behav Neurosci. 1990:104:544-551.Google Scholar
6.Milner, B. Visually guided maze learning in man: effects of bilateral hippocampal, bilateral frontal, and unilateral cerebral lesions. Neuropsychologia. 1965:3:317-338.Google Scholar
7.Canavan, AGM. Stylus-maze performance in patients with frontal lobe lesions: effects of signal valency and relationship to verbal and spatial abilities. Neuropsychologia. 1983:21:375-382.Google Scholar
8.Karnath, HO, Wallesch, CW, Zimmermann, P. Mental planning and anticipatory processes with acute and chronic frontal lobe lesions: a comparison of maze performance in routine and non-routine situations. Neuropsychologia. 1991:29:271-290.Google Scholar
9.Porteus, SD. Porteus Maze Test: Fifty Years' Application. Palo Alto, California: Pacific Publishers; 1965.Google Scholar
10.Porteus, SD, DeMonbrun, R, Kepner, MD. Mental changes after bilateral prefrontal leucotomy. Genet Psychol Monogr. 1944:29:23-115.Google Scholar
11.Joel, D, Weiner, . The organization of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits: open interconnected rather than closed segregated. Neuroscience. 1994:63:363-379.Google Scholar
12.Mega, MS, Cummings, JL. Frontal-subcortical circuits and neuropsychiatric disorders. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1994:6:358-370.Google Scholar
13.Rolls, ET. Neurophysiology and cognitive functions of the striatum. RevNeurol (Paris). 1994:150:648-660.Google Scholar
14.Nuechterlein, KH, Dawson, ME.Information processing and attentional functioning in the developmental course of schizophrenic disorders. Schizophr Bull. 1984:10:160-203.Google Scholar
15.Oswald, WD, Fleischmann UM. Nurnberger Alters-lnventar (NAI). Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, 1986. (test instrument)Google Scholar
16.Overall, JE, Gorham, DR. Brief psychiatric rating scale. Psychol Rep. 1962:10:799-812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Mungas, D, Magliozzi, JR, Laubly, JN, Blunden, D. Effects of haloperidol on recall and information processing in verbal and spatial learning. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 1990:14:181-193.Google Scholar
18.Baldessarini, R, Frankenburg, FR. Clozapine: a novel antipsychotic drug. N Engl J Med. 1991:324:746-754.Google Scholar
19.Goldberg, TE, Greenberg, RD, Griffin, SJ, et al. The effect of clozapine on cognition and psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry. 1993:162:43-48.Google Scholar
20.Meltzer, HY. Dimensions of outcome with clozapine. Br J Psychiatry, . 1992:160:46-53.Google Scholar
21.Mesotten, F, Suy, E, Pietquin, M, Burton, P, Heylen, S, Gelders, Y. Therapeutic effect and safety of increasing doses of risperidone (R64766) in psychotic patients. Psychopharmacology. 1989:99:445-449.Google Scholar
22.Gallhofer, B, Bauer, U, Lis, S, Krieger, S, Gruppe, H. Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: comparison of treatment with atypical antipsychotic agents and conventional neuroleptic drugs. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 1996:6:14-20.Google Scholar
23.American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1987.Google Scholar
24.Meyer-Lindenberg, A, Gruppe, H, Bauer, U, Lis, S, Krieger, S, Gallhofer, B. Improvement of cognitive function in schizophrenic patients receiving clozapine or zotepine: results from a double-blind study. Pharmacopsychiatry. In press.Google Scholar
25.Andreasen NC: Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: definition and reliability. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982:39:784-788.Google Scholar
26.Abbruzzese, M, Bellodi, L, Ferri, S, Scarone, S. Frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder: a neuropsychological study. Brain Cogn. 1995:27:202-212.Google Scholar
27.Goldberg, TE, Weinberger, DR, Berman, KF, Pliskin, NH, Podd, MH. Further evidence for dementia of the prefrontal type in schizophrenia: a controlled study of teaching the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1987:44:1008-1014.Google Scholar
28.Green, MF, Satz, PGanzell, S, Vaclav, JF. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in schizophrenia: remediation of a stubborn deficit. Am J Psychiatry. 1992:149:62-67.Google Scholar
29.Frith, CD, Done, DJ. Towards a neuropsychology of schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry. 1988:153:437-443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Frith, CD, Done, DJ. Experiences of alien control in schizophrenia reflect a disorder in the central monitoring of action. Psychol Med. 1989:19:359-363.Google Scholar
31.Cushman, L, Caplan, B. Multiple memory systems: evidence from stroke. Percept Mot Skills. 1987:64:571-577.Google Scholar