Assessing a minimal executive operation in schizophrenia.

The minimal cognitive operation of thinking of a just-seen stimulus (refreshing) was studied in 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 normal controls. Verbal response times were measured when participants read a word, read a word immediately again, or refreshed a word just after it was no longer present. Patients showed equal priming as controls in reading a word for the second time and were slower than controls to say a word only in the refresh condition.

Subjective qualities of memories associated with the picture superiority effect in schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia (n = 24) matched with 24 normal subjects were presented with both words and pictures. On a recognition memory task, they were asked to give remember, know, or guess responses to items that were recognized on the basis of conscious recollection, familiarity, or guessing, respectively. Compared with normal subjects, patients exhibited a lower picture superiority effect selectively related to remember responses.