Abstract
In recent years the central role of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia has been increasingly accepted (Gold & Green, 2005; Green & Nuechterlein, 1999), so much so that the cognitive deficits have become very prominent new targets for treatment development (Gold, 2004; Hyman & Fenton, 2003). In this paper we examine factors that led to the conclusion that cognitive factors are core features of schizophrenia and then discuss recent approaches to identifying the cognitive domains and processes that offer promise as treatment targets.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andreasen, N. C., Paradiso, S., & O’Leary, D. S. (1998). Cognitive dysmetria as an integrative theory of schizophrenia: A dysfunction in cortical-subcortical-cerebellar circuitry. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 24, 203–218.
Barch, D. M., Berman, M. G., Engle, R., Jones, J. H., Jonides, J., Macdonald, A., 3rd, et al. (2009). CNTRICS final task selection: Working memory. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 35(1), 136–152.
Barch, D. M., & Braver, T. S. (2005). Cognitive control in schizophrenia: Psychological and neural mechanisms. In R. W. Engle, G. Sedek, U. von Hecker & A. M. McIntosh (Eds.), Cognitive limitations in aging and psychopathology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Barch, D. M., Carter, C. S., Arnsten, A., Buchanan, R. W., Cohen, J. D., Geyer, M., et al. (2009). Selecting paradigms from cognitive neuroscience for translation into use in clinical trials: Proceedings of the third CNTRICS meeting. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 35(1), 109–114.
Bartzokis, G., Nuechterlein, K. H., Lu, P. H., Gitlin, M., Rogers, S., & Mintz, J. (2003). Dysregulated brain development in adult men with schizophrenia: A magnetic resonance imaging study. Biological Psychiatry, 53(5), 412–421.
Carter, C. S., Barch, D. M., Buchanan, R. W., Bullmore, E., Krystal, J. H., Cohen, J., et al. (2008). Identifying cognitive mechanisms targeted for treatment development in schizophrenia: An overview of the first meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia Initiative. Biological Psychiatry, 64(1), 4–10.
Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. P. (1978). The measurement of differential deficit. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 14, 303–311.
Cornblatt, B., Obuchowski, M., Roberts, S., Pollack, S., & Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L. (1999). Cognitive and behavioral precursors of schizophrenia. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 487–508.
Dickinson, D., & Harvey, P. D. (2009). Systemic hypotheses for generalized cognitive deficits in schizophrenia: A new take on an old problem. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 35(2), 403–414.
Dickinson, D., Iannone, V. N., Wilk, C. M., & Gold, J. M. (2004). General and specific cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 55(8), 826–833.
Dickinson, D., Ragland, J. D., Calkins, M. E., Gold, J. M., & Gur, R. C. (2006). A comparison of cognitive structure in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls using confirmatory factor analysis. Schizophrenia Research, 85(1–3), 20–29.
Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L., Rock, D., Roberts, S. A., Janal, M., Kestenbaum, C., Cornblatt, B., et al. (2000). Attention, memory, and motor skills as childhood predictors of schizophrenia-related psychosis: The New York High-Risk Project. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157 (9), 1416–1422.
Geyer, M. A., & Tamminga, C. A. (2004). Measurement and treatment research to improve cognition in schizophrenia: Neuropharmacological aspects. Psychopharmacology, 174, 1–2.
Gold, J. M. (2004). Cognitive deficits as treatment targets in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 72(1), 21–28.
Gold, J. M., Fuller, R. L., Robinson, B. M., Braun, E. L., & Luck, S. J. (2007). Impaired top-down control of visual search in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 94(1–3), 148–155.
Gold, J. M., & Green, M. F. (2005). Neurocognition in Schizophrenia. In B. J. Sadock & V. A. Sadock (Eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (Vol. 8th, pp. 1436–1448). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
Green, M. F. (1996). What are the functional consequences of neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia? American Journal of Psychiatry, 153(3), 321–330.
Green, M. F., Kern, R. S., Braff, D. L., & Mintz, J. (2000). Neurocognitive deficits and functional outcome in schizophrenia: Are we measuring the “right stuff”? Schizophrenia Bulletin, 26(1), 119–136.
Green, M. F., Kern, R. S., & Heaton, R. K. (2004). Longitudinal studies of cognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia: Implications for MATRICS. Schizophrenia Research, 72(1), 41–51.
Green, M. F., & Nuechterlein, K. H. (1999). Should schizophrenia be treated as a neurocognitive disorder? Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 309–319.
Green, M. F., & Nuechterlein, K. H. (2004). The MATRICS initiative: Developing a consensus cognitive battery for clinical trials. Schizophrenia Research, 72(1), 1–3.
Green, M. F., Nuechterlein, K. H., Gold, J. M., Barch, D. M., Cohen, J., Essock, S., et al. (2004). Approaching a consensus cognitive battery for clinical trials in schizophrenia: The NIMH-MATRICS conference to select cognitive domains and test criteria. Biological Psychiatry, 56(5), 301–307.
Gur, R. E., Calkins, M. E., Gur, R. C., Horan, W. P., Nuechterlein, K. H., Seidman, L. J., et al. (2007). The consortium on the genetics of schizophrenia: Neurocognitive endophenotypes. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33(1), 49–68.
Hoff, A. L., Sakuma, M., Wieneke, M., Horon, R., Kushner, M., & DeLisi, L. E. (1999). Longitudinal neuropsychological follow-up study of patients with first-episode schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156(9), 1336–1341.
Hyman, S., & Fenton, W. (2003). What are the right targets for psychopharmacology? 299, 350–351.
Keefe, R. S., Bilder, R. M., Harvey, P. D., Davis, S. M., Palmer, B. W., Gold, J. M., et al. (2006). Baseline Neurocognitive Deficits in the CATIE Schizophrenia Trial. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31(9), 2033–2046.
Kern, R. S., Green, M. F., Nuechterlein, K. H., & Deng, B. H. (2004). NIMH-MATRICS survey on assessment of neurocognition in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 72(1), 11–19.
Kern, R. S., Nuechterlein, K. H., Green, M. F., Baade, L. E., Fenton, W. S., Gold, J. M., et al. (2008). The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, part 2: Co-norming and standardization. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(2), 214–220.
Luck, S. J., & Gold, J. M. (2008). The translation of cognitive paradigms for patient research. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34, 629–644.
MacDonald, A. W., 3rd, Carter, C. S., Flory, J. D., Ferrell, R. E., & Manuck, S. B. (2007). COMT val158Met and executive control: A test of the benefit of specific deficits to translational research. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116(2), 306–312.
Nuechterlein, K. H., Asarnow, R. F., Subotnik, K. L., Fogelson, D. L., Ventura, J., Torquato, R., et al. (1998). Neurocognitive vulnerability factors for schizophrenia: Convergence across genetic risk studies and longitudinal trait/state studies. In M. F. Lenzenweger & R. H. Dworkin (Eds.), Origins and Development of Schizophrenia: Advances in Experimental Psychopathology (pp. 299–327). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Nuechterlein, K. H., Barch, D. M., Gold, J. M., Goldberg, T. E., Green, M. F., & Heaton, R. K. (2004). Identification of separable cognitive factors in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 72(1), 29–39.
Nuechterlein, K. H., Dawson, M. E., Gitlin, M. J., Ventura, J., Goldstein, M. J., Snyder, K. S., et al. (1992). Developmental processes in schizophrenic disorders: Longitudinal studies of vulnerability and stress. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 18(3), 387–425.
Nuechterlein, K. H., Green, M. F., Kern, R. S., Baade, L. E., Barch, D. M., Cohen, J. D., et al. (2008). The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, part 1: Test selection, reliability, and validity. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(2), 203–213.
Nuechterlein, K. H., Pashler, H. E., & Subotnik, K. L. (2006). Translating basic attentional paradigms to schizophrenia research: Reconsidering the nature of the deficits. Development and Psychopathology, 18(3), 831–851.
Rund, B. R. (1998). A review of longitudinal studies of cognitive functions in schizophrenia patients. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 24(3), 425–435.
Sergi, M. J., Rassovsky, Y., Nuechterlein, K. H., & Green, M. F. (2006). Social perception as a mediator of the influence of early visual processing on functional status in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(3), 448–454.
Snitz, B. E., MacDonald, A. W., 3rd, & Carter, C. S. (2006). Cognitive deficits in unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients: A meta-analytic review of putative endophenotypes. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 32(1), 179–194.
Strauss, M. E., & Summerfelt, A. (2003). The neuropsychological study of schizophrenia: A methodological perspective. In M. F. Lenzenweger & J. M. Hooley (Eds.), Principles of experimental psychopathology: Essays in honor of Brendan A. Maher (pp. 119–134). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nuechterlein, K.H., Green, M.F., Kern, R.S. (2010). Schizophrenia as a Cognitive Disorder: Recent Approaches to Identifying its Core Cognitive Components to Aid Treatment Development. In: Gattaz, W., Busatto, G. (eds) Advances in Schizophrenia Research 2009. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0913-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0913-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0912-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0913-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)