The prevalence and stability of an executive processing deficit, response inhibition, in people with chronic schizophrenia

Stability of cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia over brief and intermediate re‐test intervals

“…The finding in the current study that estimates of group mean performance in the schizophrenia group were stable over the short study period is consistent with other studies that found performance on a wide range of cognitive measures to be stable over time in patients with schizophrenia (e.g., Conway Grieg et al, 2004;Harvey et al, 2005;Heaton et al, 2001;Hughes et al, 2002;Wilk et al, 2002;Wykes et al, 2000). This stability in cognitive performance has been observed from weeks to years following initial assessment and persists even after changes in clinical symptoms, antipsychotic medication, and treatment settingshospital to community-based care (e.g., Heaton et al, 2001;Wykes et al, 2000).…”

“…Differences in cognitive test performance among individuals with schizophrenia on the first assessment were preserved across all assessments conducted on the same day or in the same month. These results extend previous reports (e.g., Rund, 1998;Wykes et al, 2000) to suggest that differences in cognitive test performance among patients with schizophrenia are stable over very brief (i.e., hours) and intermediate (1 month) intervals, and that they are not a function of test error.…”

“…This stability in cognitive performance has been observed from weeks to years following initial assessment and persists even after changes in clinical symptoms, antipsychotic medication, and treatment settingshospital to community-based care (e.g., Heaton et al, 2001;Wykes et al, 2000). These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia generally manifest stable cognitive performance over time and that this stability in performance is not limited to any particular cognitive domain.…”

Modafinil Improves Cognition and Attentional Set Shifting in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

“…In addition, it is important that these results are confirmed with long-term chronic administration studies. Although there is evidence that cognitive impairments are invariable over time (Heaton et al, 2001;Wykes et al, 2000), it is not clear that cognitive improvements would show a similar pattern of invariability.…”

Psychomotor slowing and planning deficits in schizophrenia

“…Particularly impaired executive functioningwhich following includes volitional activity, forward planning, cognitive flexibility and self-regulation -has been found to be related to poor future outcome. Wykes et al (Wykes, et al, 1992;Wykes, 1994;Wykes, Reeder & Corner, 2000), for example, found that a complex reaction time measure, which was thought to assess response inhibition, was predictive of future dependence on psychiatric services. Following this line of research, we feel that the tasks used in the present study may be useful to understand cognitive deficits and problems in the everyday functioning of patients with schizophrenia in the perspective of the future outcome for these patients.…”