Perseveration in schizophrenia: failure to generate a plan and relationship with the psychomotor poverty subsyndrome.

Full Abstract

Although perseveration in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) has been studied extensively in schizophrenia, the underlying cognitive dysfunctions are not yet clear. In schizophrenia, perseveration has been found to relate to frontal and striatal abnormalities. Therefore, both a failure to generate a plan as seen in patients with frontal abnormalities, or a failure to execute a plan as observed in Parkinson patients, who suffer primarily from striatal abnormalities, could explain perseveration in schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to distinguish between these two cognitive dysfunctions, which are described by Frith in his routes-to-action model. The main difference between these dysfunctions is the ability to use external guidance. In the present study, 39 schizophrenic patients and 36 healthy controls were assessed with the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the WCST, in which use of external guidance can be measured, and with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) to determine the relationship with symptomatology. The results showed that half of the schizophrenic patients showed perseveration, which could be explained by a failure to generate a plan and was related to the psychomotor poverty subsyndrome. No evidence was found for a failure to execute a plan. Type of antipsychotic medication used (atypical vs. typical) proved not relevant. The results are discussed in the light of evidence for involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in perseveration in schizophrenia.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Lanser, Marja G (MG); Berger, Hans J C (HJ); Ellenbroek, Bart A (BA); Cools, Alexander R (AR); Zitman, Frans G (FG);

Affiliation: Department of Psychoneuropharmacology, University Medical Centre St Radboud, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychiatry research (Psychiatry Res), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 112 (issue 1) : pp 13-26

Dates: Created 2002/10/15; Completed 2003/04/07; Revised 2008/04/17;

PMID: 12379447, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Attention - physiology
Corpus Striatum - physiopathology
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology

Problem Solving - physiology
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reference Values
Retention (Psychology) - physiology
Schizophrenia - diagnosis; physiopathology
Schizophrenic Psychology
Verbal Learning - physiology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.