Executive Subprocesses in Working Memory

Abstract

COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION in the working memory domain is an attractive candidate intermediate phenotype in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia reliably demonstrate working memory impairments using a variety of cognitive tasks, and such impairments are not highly correlated with psychotic symptoms, are stable over time, and are usually unaffected by neuroleptic medications,^1-8 increasing their potential value as a trait characteristic. Data from a series of family and twin studies^9-18 suggest that impairment in working memory or cognitive control is also a heritable phenotype related to risk for schizophrenia, suggesting that it is a plausible intermediate phenotype. However, some of these studies involved small sample sizes and included parents and siblings (with possible confounds due to age and generation).