makes use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore cognitive processing impairment in the brain, more specifically the regions and neural circuits that contribute to the impairment

Functional Neuroimaging

- working memory tasks: Observed reduced connectivity in regions of the brain (prefrontal cortex -> parietal cortex; thalamus -> frontoparietal region; prefrontal cortex -> basal ganglia)
- episodic memory tasks: reduced connectivity between hippocampus and frontal regions
- facial processing: reduced functional connectivity in limbic structures

Functional Connectivity

- Memory retention is impaired in Alzheimer's disease, but it is intact in schizophrenia.
- Schizophrenia patients tend to be more impaired on nonsocial and social cognition when compared to patients with bipolar disorder.
- A few studies found comparable impairment between people with schizophrenia and adults with autism on facial affect recognition and mentalizing, but more research needs to be done to decide whether the two disorders have a pattern of distinct impairments across social and nonsocial cognition.

Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia vs. Other Disorders

- Patients that recently experienced a psychotic episode showed that performance on cognitive tasks remained stable over time, however this is not always the case for older schizophrenia patients that tend to show worsening nonsocial cognitive performance.
- Findings support the notion of premorbid deficits in nonsocial cognition in schizophrenia and the presence of cognitive impairment before clinical manifestations emerge. 

Cognitive Impairment Across Phases of Illness and Lifespan

A set of symptoms of schizophrenia that affects the normal processes of the brain that helps day to day functioning

Syracuse University

Michigan State University

Cognition is another area of functioning that is affected in schizophrenia leading to problems with attention, concentration and memory, and to declining educational performance.

Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia 

Green, M. F., Horan, W. P., &amp; Lee, J. (2019). Nonsocial and social cognition in schizophrenia: Current evidence and Future Directions. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 146–161. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20624 

Nonsocial and social cognition in schizophrenia: current evidence and future directions

- Schizophrenia research has predomi­nantly focused on nonsocial cognition (also referred to as neurocognition).
- Nonsocial cognition includes those commonly considered mental abilities, including speed of processing, verbal learning and memory, visuospatial learning and memory, working memory, attention/vigilance, and reasoning and problem solving.


Nonsocial Cognition 

- Neuroinflammation and Cognition
- Computational Modeling of Cognitive Processes 
- Cognition and Remote Digital Technology 
- Brain Network Organization 



Future Directions for Research on Cognition in Schizophrenia 

Cognitive Impairment

A type of information processing deficit that would negatively impact cognition from the very beginning

Perceptual Impairment

Interest in social cognition as it relates to schizophrenia is a more recent development, and research in this area has grown dramatically over the past 10-­15 years.

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