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Time estimation in schizophrenia
Abstracts
mOL PSYCHIATRY 1996:39:500-666
258. THE IMPACT OF SEX ON COGNITION AND STRUCTURAL BRAIN MRI IN SCHIZOPHRENIA J.M. Goldstein', LJ. Seidman", J.M. Goodman', D. Koren I , N. Makris", D.N. Kennedy", S. Weintraub", V.S. Cavlness", & M.T. Tsuallg l ,3 Harvard Schools of Medicine- lpsychiatry. 2Ncurolog)' & ·\public Health, Boston. MA 021 15; "Northwestern Medical School, Evanston. JL 6061 J There is a current controversy in the literature regarding whethersex has a significantdifferential impacton cognitive deficits and structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. We have argued that the inconsistency in fintlings is due to sampli~ artifacts ant'! the differential effects of clinical state for patients who arc notin remission. This study systcrnutlcully examined sex differences in cognitive function and structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. Thirty DSM·IJI-R schizophrenics, equally divided sell, were randomly sampled from the universe of outpatients from a large service tha: prtmarily treats chronic patients in remission. They were well-matched within sex to normal controls from the same catchment area, based on age. parental SES, and WRAT reading/spelling. Assessments included neurodcvclcpmemal history, symptomatology. and neuropsychological tests. including attention, executive function. motor skills, \:isual.spatia1 ability. memory. smell identification, language, and structural brain MRI. Findings. using MANCQVA pattern analyses. showed that. even in this chronic sample, with subjects who were well-matched and in remission. schizophrenic women had signific:mtly preserved function in verbal memory, visualspatial processing, language. and olfaction compared to nonnal control wcrnenund schizophrenic .mcn, Schizophrenic men were diffusely impaired. These cognitive findings will be rrlated to sex. differences in structural brafn abnormalitles, in particular,in the hippocampus, prcfrontal cortex, superior tcmpora] gyrus. and inferior parietal cortex, arcus found by Others to be significantly different by sex in normals und/or schizophrenics. Findings have implications for understanding the sexual dimorphism of the bruin as well as laterality effects in schizophrenla.
259. TIME ESTIMATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
575
production (TIP - "ten me when 15 seconds is up"); and a time interval estimation task (TIE - a time interval is demarcated for the subject. then the subject asked "how long was that interval"). To investigate the role of ongoing strategies and working memory, in a separate condition subjects read aloud during the time intervals of both tasks (distraction conditions). Subjects had mean age of 30.9:!: 14.8. a mean education of 12.1 :!:4.7. SCm-verified DSMII.I-R schizophrenia diagnoses (uny subtype), Results suggested patients and controls differed on the two tusksin both the distraction and non-distractlon conditions. with the patients showing less accurate responses. Performance did not vary as a function of task type (TIPrrIE), hut both groups did significantly worse in the dist...action conditions. There was a trend such that declines related to distraction on the TIP task were worse in the patients and this effect !leld up after accouming for age. These effects arc interpreted as follows: .I) worse dlstractlon condition performance suggests working memory hi involved in time estimation,2) impaired working memory in schizophrenia lead to the larger declines in the TIP distraction condition.
260. DISORDERED TIME PERCEPTION FOLLOWING UNILATERAL AMOBARBITAL INJECTION D.L. Drane, G.P. Lee, D.W. Loring, & KJ. Meador Medical College of Georgia, Augusta. GA 30912-3275 In order to detcrmlnc if hemispheric specialization for time perception exists, estimates of elapsed time were obtained following unltaieral ihiwl:l.uuliJ ulIluimluilai iujcl:iiull ill 27 paticlJis \Viiil ieit (LTLj and 26 patientswith right (RTL) tcmpornl lobc seizure onset. After resolution of drug effects, patients were asked to estimate how much time had elapsed since amobarbital admlnlsuntlon, Results of a mixed design ANa VA lndicated thnt elapsed time was significantly underestimated by both peticnt groups following right hemispheric injection. Furthermore, there was an interaction effect involving group, side. and sequence of injection. Post-hoc analyses revealedthat LTLs made more accuratetime estimates following len hemisphere injection, but only when it occurred second in the injection sequence. RTLs showed no improvement under any condition. This suggests thut tTL'! benefitted from exposure to the time estimate task and improved when they could anticipate its occurrenceon u subsequent trial during which their right hemisphere WllS fully functioning. Taken together. these results suggest Ihut intact right hemisphere function is necessary for making accurate time cstlmations,
J.I, Tracy, C,A. Monaco, C. Chambliss,
H. McMichaeJ, & K. Tyson 261. DETERMINANTS OF CATEGORY AND Medical College of Pcnnsylvnnia/Norristown State Hospital Clinical Research Center and Urslnus College
PHONEMIC FLUENCY DEFICITS IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENICS
Time estimation ubnormalltlcs have been used to explain ccnaln cognitive findings in schizophrenia such llS the reaction-time crossovereffect. Empirical datu on primary lime estimation abilities in schlzophrcnla are lacking. Given that both the key neurochemical (dopamine transmission) and structural (cerebellum) bases of time estimation have been found abnormal in schlzophrcnla, hypothesesregarding the integrityof primary time estlmation in schizophrenia nrc warranted. We report data on two time-ability tasks in a sample of chronic inpatlent schizophrenics (n=21) and normal controls (college undergraduates, n=30): II time interval
P.D. Harvey, J. Lombardi, L. White, M. Parrella, P. Powchik, R. Mohs, & M. Davidson Mount Sinai School of Medicine. New York. NY 10029 Recent research has suggested that some schizophrenic patients with a particularly bad outcome may manifestsigns of degcncratl....e processes.
mOL PSYCHIATRY 1996:39:500-666
258. THE IMPACT OF SEX ON COGNITION AND STRUCTURAL BRAIN MRI IN SCHIZOPHRENIA J.M. Goldstein', LJ. Seidman", J.M. Goodman', D. Koren I , N. Makris", D.N. Kennedy", S. Weintraub", V.S. Cavlness", & M.T. Tsuallg l ,3 Harvard Schools of Medicine- lpsychiatry. 2Ncurolog)' & ·\public Health, Boston. MA 021 15; "Northwestern Medical School, Evanston. JL 6061 J There is a current controversy in the literature regarding whethersex has a significantdifferential impacton cognitive deficits and structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. We have argued that the inconsistency in fintlings is due to sampli~ artifacts ant'! the differential effects of clinical state for patients who arc notin remission. This study systcrnutlcully examined sex differences in cognitive function and structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. Thirty DSM·IJI-R schizophrenics, equally divided sell, were randomly sampled from the universe of outpatients from a large service tha: prtmarily treats chronic patients in remission. They were well-matched within sex to normal controls from the same catchment area, based on age. parental SES, and WRAT reading/spelling. Assessments included neurodcvclcpmemal history, symptomatology. and neuropsychological tests. including attention, executive function. motor skills, \:isual.spatia1 ability. memory. smell identification, language, and structural brain MRI. Findings. using MANCQVA pattern analyses. showed that. even in this chronic sample, with subjects who were well-matched and in remission. schizophrenic women had signific:mtly preserved function in verbal memory, visualspatial processing, language. and olfaction compared to nonnal control wcrnenund schizophrenic .mcn, Schizophrenic men were diffusely impaired. These cognitive findings will be rrlated to sex. differences in structural brafn abnormalitles, in particular,in the hippocampus, prcfrontal cortex, superior tcmpora] gyrus. and inferior parietal cortex, arcus found by Others to be significantly different by sex in normals und/or schizophrenics. Findings have implications for understanding the sexual dimorphism of the bruin as well as laterality effects in schizophrenla.
259. TIME ESTIMATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
575
production (TIP - "ten me when 15 seconds is up"); and a time interval estimation task (TIE - a time interval is demarcated for the subject. then the subject asked "how long was that interval"). To investigate the role of ongoing strategies and working memory, in a separate condition subjects read aloud during the time intervals of both tasks (distraction conditions). Subjects had mean age of 30.9:!: 14.8. a mean education of 12.1 :!:4.7. SCm-verified DSMII.I-R schizophrenia diagnoses (uny subtype), Results suggested patients and controls differed on the two tusksin both the distraction and non-distractlon conditions. with the patients showing less accurate responses. Performance did not vary as a function of task type (TIPrrIE), hut both groups did significantly worse in the dist...action conditions. There was a trend such that declines related to distraction on the TIP task were worse in the patients and this effect !leld up after accouming for age. These effects arc interpreted as follows: .I) worse dlstractlon condition performance suggests working memory hi involved in time estimation,2) impaired working memory in schizophrenia lead to the larger declines in the TIP distraction condition.
260. DISORDERED TIME PERCEPTION FOLLOWING UNILATERAL AMOBARBITAL INJECTION D.L. Drane, G.P. Lee, D.W. Loring, & KJ. Meador Medical College of Georgia, Augusta. GA 30912-3275 In order to detcrmlnc if hemispheric specialization for time perception exists, estimates of elapsed time were obtained following unltaieral ihiwl:l.uuliJ ulIluimluilai iujcl:iiull ill 27 paticlJis \Viiil ieit (LTLj and 26 patientswith right (RTL) tcmpornl lobc seizure onset. After resolution of drug effects, patients were asked to estimate how much time had elapsed since amobarbital admlnlsuntlon, Results of a mixed design ANa VA lndicated thnt elapsed time was significantly underestimated by both peticnt groups following right hemispheric injection. Furthermore, there was an interaction effect involving group, side. and sequence of injection. Post-hoc analyses revealedthat LTLs made more accuratetime estimates following len hemisphere injection, but only when it occurred second in the injection sequence. RTLs showed no improvement under any condition. This suggests thut tTL'! benefitted from exposure to the time estimate task and improved when they could anticipate its occurrenceon u subsequent trial during which their right hemisphere WllS fully functioning. Taken together. these results suggest Ihut intact right hemisphere function is necessary for making accurate time cstlmations,
J.I, Tracy, C,A. Monaco, C. Chambliss,
H. McMichaeJ, & K. Tyson 261. DETERMINANTS OF CATEGORY AND Medical College of Pcnnsylvnnia/Norristown State Hospital Clinical Research Center and Urslnus College
PHONEMIC FLUENCY DEFICITS IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENICS
Time estimation ubnormalltlcs have been used to explain ccnaln cognitive findings in schizophrenia such llS the reaction-time crossovereffect. Empirical datu on primary lime estimation abilities in schlzophrcnla are lacking. Given that both the key neurochemical (dopamine transmission) and structural (cerebellum) bases of time estimation have been found abnormal in schlzophrcnla, hypothesesregarding the integrityof primary time estlmation in schizophrenia nrc warranted. We report data on two time-ability tasks in a sample of chronic inpatlent schizophrenics (n=21) and normal controls (college undergraduates, n=30): II time interval
P.D. Harvey, J. Lombardi, L. White, M. Parrella, P. Powchik, R. Mohs, & M. Davidson Mount Sinai School of Medicine. New York. NY 10029 Recent research has suggested that some schizophrenic patients with a particularly bad outcome may manifestsigns of degcncratl....e processes.