Previous research on schizophrenia suggests that context-processing disturbances are one of the core cognitive deficits present in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear whether such deficits are specific to schizophrenia as compared with other psychotic disorders. To address this question, the authors administered a version of the AX Continuous Performance Test designed to assess context processing in a sample of healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia, and patients with other psychotic disorders. Participants were tested at index (when medication naive and experiencing their first contact with psychiatric services) and 4 weeks later, following medication treatment. At index, patients with schizophrenia and the psychotic comparison group demonstrated similar impairments in context processing. However, context-processing deficits improved in the psychotic comparison group at 4 weeks but did not improve in patients with schizophrenia.

Individuals who have recovered from anorexia nervosa may have difficulties in differentiating positive and negative feedback. The exaggerated activation of the caudate, a region involved in linking action to outcome, may constitute an attempt at "strategic" (as opposed to hedonic) means of responding to reward stimuli. The authors hypothesize that individuals with anorexia nervosa have an imbalance in information processing, with impaired ability to identify the emotional significance of a stimulus but increased traffic in neurocircuits concerned with planning and consequences.

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Background-Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is associated with neurotoxicity to frontostriatal brain regions with concomitant deleterious effects on cognitive processes. Deficits in behavioral control are thought to be one contributing factor to the sustainment of addictive behaviors in chronic MA abuse.

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This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) exhibit formal thought disorder (FTD), and whether this is related to ASD symptoms, executive control, and anxiety. Participants aged 8-17 with ASDs exhibited significantly more illogical thinking and loose associations than matched typically developing control subjects. In participants with ASDs, illogical thinking was related to aspects of cognitive functioning and to executive control. Loose associations were related to autism communication symptoms and to parent reports of stress and anxiety. When FTD is present in ASDs, it generally is not a co-morbid schizophrenia symptom, but is related to pragmatic language abnormalities found in ASDs. The clinical and neurobiological significance of this work is discussed. KeywordsAutism spectrum disorders; Schizophrenia; Thought disorder; Executive functions; Anxiety Autism and schizophrenia are heterogeneous disorders with presentations that vary across severity-graded spectra. There has been longstanding interest in understanding the Correspondence to: Marjorie Solomon. HHS Public AccessAuthor manuscript J Autism Dev Disord. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 July 20. Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript relationship between these two disorders. Initially, it was believed that autism was the earliest manifestation of schizophrenia, which then presented fully in late adolescence or early adulthood (Bender 1947). Later, Kolvin (1971) and Rutter (1972) suggested the two disorders were functionally distinct, and empirical research demonstrated that individuals diagnosed with autism did not develop schizophrenia at a rate higher than the general population (Mouridsen et al. 1999;Sporn et al. 2004;Volkmar and Cohen 1991).More recently, it has been proposed that the presence of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including high functioning autism, Asperger's Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS), may be a nonspecific marker of severe early abnormal neurodevelopment present in disorders including schizophrenia. Consistent with this view, multiple studies have documented premorbid childhood social difficulties and oddness in individuals later diagnosed with schizophrenia (Schiffman et al. 2004;Walker et al. 1993);and Sporn et al. (2004) found that ASD was present in 25% of a cohort of children diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia.Developing a better understanding of differences between the autism and schizophrenia is important both clinically and scientifically. For clinicians, early accurate diagnosis of both disorders is imperative given its association with improved language and social functioning in autism (Ozonoff et al. 2007) and the relationship between untreated illness duration and poor outcome in schizophrenia (Keshavan and Amirsadri 2007). Differential diagnosis of schizophrenia and ASDs can be challenging, however, because symptoms may be difficult to distinguish or even overlap (Sheitman et al...

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The differential effects of these medications on spatial working memory may be due to the anticholinergic effects of clozapine and prefrontal dopamine-enhancing effects of risperidone.