Qualitatively Different Delay-Dependent Working Memory Distortions in People With Schizophrenia and Healthy Control Participants.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
; 8(12): 1218-1227, 2023 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37459911
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Impairments in working memory (WM) have been well documented in people with schizophrenia (PSZ). However, these quantitative WM impairments can often be explained by nonspecific factors, such as impaired goal maintenance. Here, we used a spatial orientation delayed response task to explore a qualitative difference in WM dynamics between PSZ and healthy control participants (HCs). More specifically, we took advantage of the discovery that WM representations may drift either toward or away from previous trial targets (serial dependence). We tested the hypothesis that WM representations would drift toward the previous trial target in HCs but away from the previous trial target in PSZ.METHODS:
We assessed serial dependence in PSZ (n = 31) and HCs (n = 25) using orientation as the to-be-remembered feature and memory delays lasting from 0 to 8 seconds. Participants were asked to remember the orientation of a teardrop-shaped object and reproduce the orientation after a delay period of varying length.RESULTS:
Consistent with prior studies, we found that current trial memory representations were less precise in PSZ than in HCs. We also found that WM for the current trial orientation drifted toward the previous trial orientation in HCs (representational attraction) but drifted away from the previous trial orientation in PSZ (representational repulsion).CONCLUSIONS:
These results demonstrate a qualitative difference in WM dynamics between PSZ and HCs that cannot be easily explained by nuisance factors such as reduced effort. Most computational neuroscience models also fail to explain these results because they maintain information solely by means of sustained neural firing, which does not extend across trials. The results suggest a fundamental difference between PSZ and HCs in longer-term memory mechanisms that persist across trials, such as short-term potentiation and neuronal adaptation.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Esquizofrenia
/
Memória de Curto Prazo
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article