EXPLORING THE MECHANISMS OF SUPERIOR COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Numerous clinical as well as epidemiological studies have documented severe intellectual deficits in schizophrenia patients. The intellectual deficits have been associated with resulting functional impairments. While it is clear that overall, low intellectual ability is a characteristic of a majority of schizophrenia patients, about 20%-30% have no apparent cognitive impairments. About 13% of patients have IQ scores of 110 or higher, suggesting that a respectable proportion of patients maintain superior intellectual abilities. Although it has been suggested that schizophrenia patients with intellectual ability 'within normal range' still exhibit impairments in executive functions and processing speed compared with normal individuals, the performance of patients with superior intelligence (IQ>115) on specific neuropsychological tests remains unknown. Furthermore, brain function has never been directly studied in this population. The study of schizophrenia patients with superior intellectual capacity has the potential of identifying unaffected, or protective, neural functions. It may also help elucidate the relationship between psychopathology and cognitive impairment, by clarifying the pathophysiology underlying schizophrenic symptoms. Hypotheses: A. Schizophrenia patients with superior intelligence (IQ>115) will present neuropsychological performance and symptom profiles different from schizophrenia patients with normal or low IQ(<115), and controls. B. Similar to schizophrenia patients with normal or low IQ(<115), schizophrenia patients with superior intelligence (IQ>115) will present a characteristic reduced DLPFC activation during a working memory task compared to controls. Other brains regions (in particular in anterior cingulate and left frontal pole) will show increased activation compared to controls and schizophrenia patients with normal or low IQ.