Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T12:40:44.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognitive Inflexibility and Pre-frontal Dysfunction in Schizophrenia and Mania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rodney Morice
Rodney Morice*
Affiliation:
Hunter Area Mental Health Services, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle
*
∗c/o James Fletcher Hospital, PO Box 833, Newcastle, NSW, 2300, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The ability to shift cognitive set, which is probably subserved, at least in part, by the pre-frontal cortex, was determined for schizophrenic, bipolar (manic) and control subjects, using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The schizophrenic and manic subjects both demonstrated poor performance on the WCST, suggesting that cognitive inflexibility and/or pre-frontal dysfunction, is not specific to schizophrenia (although laterality differences could exist). Moderate levels of poor performance in the non-psychiatric control group suggest the need for a review of the cut-off figures in the WCST currently used for predicting ‘brain damage’ and ‘focal frontal involvement‘, especially given the trend for the increasing use of cognitive assessment and rehabilitation in the major psychoses.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 1 , July 1990 , pp. 50 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Berg, E. A. (1948) A simple objective technique for measuring flexibility in thinking. Journal of General Psychology, 39, 15–22.Google Scholar
Berman, K. F., Zec, R. F. & Weinberger, D. R. (1986) Physiologic dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. II. Role of neuroleptic treatment, attention, and mental effort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 126–135.Google Scholar
Brenner, H. D. (1987) On the importance of cognitive disorders in treatment and rehabilitation. In Psychosocial Treatment of Schizophrenia (eds J. S. Strauss, W. Boker & H. D. Brenner). Bern: Hans Huber Publications.Google Scholar
Drewe, E. A. (1974) The effect of type and area of brain lesion on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance. Cortex, 10, 159–170.Google Scholar
Fey, E. T. (1951) The performance of young schizophrenics and young normals on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 15, 311–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flor-Henry, P. & Yeudall, L. T. (1979) Neuropsychological investigations of schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychoses. In Hemispheric Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (eds J. H. Gruzelier & P. Flor-Henry). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Fuster, J. M. (1989) The Prefrontal Cortex (2nd edn). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Godfrey, K. (1985) Comparing the means of several groups. New England Journal of Medicine, 313, 1450–1456.Google Scholar
Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F., et al (1987) Further evidence for dementia of the prefrontal type in schizophrenia? Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 1008–1014.Google Scholar
Heaton, R. K. (1981) A Manual for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Odessa, Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Hymowitz, P. & Spohn, H. (1980) The effects of anti-psychotic medication on the linguistic ability of schizophrenics. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 287–296.Google Scholar
Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I. R. (1983) Performance of schizophrenic patients on tests sensitive to left or right frontal temporal, or parietal function in neurological patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 435–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukoff, D., Nuechterlein, K. H. & Ventura, J. (1986) Manual for expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Schizophrenia Bulletin, 12, 594–602.Google Scholar
Malmo, H. P. (1974) On frontal lobe functions: psychiatric patient controls. Cortex, 10, 231–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milner, B. (1963) Effects of different brain lesions on card sorting. Archives of Neurology, 9, 90–100.Google Scholar
Nelson, H. E. (1976) A modified card sorting test sensitive to frontal lobe defects. Cortex, 12, 313–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, A. L., Heaton, R. K., Lehman, R. A. W., et al (1980) The utility of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in detecting and localizing frontal lobe lesions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 605–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Croughan, J., et al (1981) National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 381–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarter, R. E. & Parsons, O. A. (1971) Conceptual shifting in chronic alcoholics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 77, 71–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1981) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R. (1987) Implications of normal brain development for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 660–669.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. & Zec, R. F. (1986) Physiological dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. I. Regional cerebral blood flow evidence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 114–124.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. & Illowsky, B. P. (1988) Physiological dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. III. A new cohort and evidence for a monoaminergic mechanism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 609–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.