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Memory

What is memory in schizophrenia? 

Memory involves encoding, storage and retrieval of information. Short-term memory is the ability to remember information after several seconds or minutes and long-term memory is the ability to remember information over a longer duration. Working memory involves information being temporarily held as well as manipulated. Episodic memory is long-term memory for autobiographical events. Semantic memory involves memory for general facts, prospective memory involves memory for future actions, and retrospective memory is memory for past events.

What is the evidence for memory?

Compared to controls, moderate to high quality evidence found medium to large effects of poorer short-term, long-term, working, episodic, prospective, and memory binding in people with schizophrenia. Compared to people with affective psychoses (e.g., bipolar I disorder), high quality evidence shows a medium-sized effect of poorer visual and verbal delayed memory, and verbal immediate memory, while moderate quality evidence finds poorer verbal working memory in people with schizophrenia. A small effect suggests people with schizophrenia showed impaired performance on working memory tasks compared to people with schizoaffective disorder.

Moderate to high quality evidence shows small to medium-sized associations between more severe negative and disorganised symptoms and poorer visual and verbal memory, with moderate quality evidence also suggesting a weak association with poorer executive working memory. There were small to medium-sized associations between poorer prospective memory and more severe general psychopathology, increased medication dose, longer duration of illness, increasing age, and lower education and IQ.

Moderate quality evidence suggests more impaired working memory in people with schizophrenia and an alcohol use disorder compared to people with schizophrenia without any substance use disorder. High quality evidence also found a small impairment in working memory in smokers vs. non-smokers with schizophrenia.

Moderate quality evidence suggests people taking olanzapine or risperidone show improvement in working memory after treatment, while people taking clozapine or quetiapine show no improvement. Moderate quality evidence suggests people taking olanzapine or risperidone show improvement on working memory with treatment, while people taking clozapine or quetiapine show no improvement. People taking olanzapine, clozapine, risperidone or haloperidol show improvement on delayed recall with treatment, while people taking quetiapine show no improvement.

High quality evidence found people at clinical high-risk of psychosis or familial high-risk of psychosis are similarly impaired on verbal and visual memory, showing small to medium-sized effects compared to controls. People at clinical high-risk of psychosis were more impaired on visuospatial working memory than those at familial risk of psychosis. There is a medium-sized effect of better working memory in people at clinical high-risk of psychosis than in people with first-episode psychosis.

March 2022

Image: ©Andrew Ostrovsky – stock.adobe.com

Last updated at: 11:44 am, 29th March 2022
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