Neurocognitive and social cognitive correlates of formal thought disorder in schizophrenia patients

Authors

Kenneth L. Subotnik, University of California - Los AngelesFollow
Keith H. Nuechterlein, University of California - Los AngelesFollow
Michael F. Green, University of California - Los Angeles
William P. Horan, University of California - Los AngelesFollow
Tasha M. Nienow, University of California - Los Angeles
Joseph Ventura, University of California - Los AngelesFollow
Annie T. Nguyen, University of California - Los Angeles

Date of this Version

2006

Document Type

Article

Citation

Schizophrenia Research 85 (2006) 84– 95; doi:10.1016/j.schres.2006.03.007

Abstract

The neurocognitive and social cognitive correlates of two types of formal thought disorder (i.e., bizarre-idiosyncratic and concrete thinking) were examined in 47 stable outpatients with schizophrenia. Both types of thinking disturbance were related to impairments in verbal learning, intrusions in verbal memory, immediate auditory memory, sustained attention, and social schema knowledge. Distractibility during an immediate memory task was associated with more frequent bizarre verbalizations but not concreteness. Impaired verbal learning rate and intrusions in verbal memory independently contributed to the prediction of bizarre responses, whereas intrusions in verbal memory and impaired immediate memory independently contributed to concrete thinking. This pattern of findings is consistent with the view that neurocognitive and, possibly, social cognitive deficits underlie these two aspects of formal thinking disturbance in schizophrenia.