Impaired working memory capacity is not caused by failures of selective attention in schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: The cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia have long been known to involve deficits in working memory (WM) capacity. To date, however, the causes of WM capacity deficits remain unknown. The present study examined selective attention impairments as a putative contributor to observed capacity deficits in this population. To test this hypothesis, we used an experimental paradigm that assesses the role of selective attention in WM encoding and has been shown to involve the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia. In experiment 1, participants were required to remember the locations of 3 or 5 target items (red circles). In another condition, 3-target items were accompanied by 2 distractor items (yellow circles), which participants were instructed to ignore. People with schizophreni

SUBMITTER: Erickson MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4332943 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature