Perceptual Deficits in Schizophrenia

Overview

In this study, participants with schizophrenia and schizoaffective are given computer exercises to complete. The goals of the study are to determine whether: 1) any of the computer exercises can improve information processing problems in schizophrenia, 2) improvements in information processing are related to other cognitive improvements, and 3) there are changes in brain activity associated with using the computer exercises. The study will involve clinical interviews, cognitive tests, and frequent computerized cognitive training over the course of 2 months. Some participants will also have electroencephalography, a non-invasive test that measures brain activity, to determine whether there are changes in brain activity with the computer training.

Schizophrenia is a disabling neurodevelopmental illness, affecting nearly 1% of the population. The disability of schizophrenia is due in large part to the effects of the illness on cognitive faculties. Current medications for schizophrenia do not generally improve cognition, so a major contribution to disability remains undertreated. Computerized cognitive remediation programs, which produce activity-dependent recruitment of neural resources to specifically enhance under-functioning brain systems, have been effective at improving both cognition and community functioning in patients with schizophrenia, but the effects are still modest. Our preliminary work has suggested that our training is associated with improvements in visual memory, though visual memory has been a cognitive area more refractory to cognitive training. In this study, participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder will be randomized to receive different computer exercises to help determine whether computer exercises can improve memory in schizophrenia, and whether the cognitive training is associated with changes in neural activity.