Contextual effects on the short-term memory retrieval of schizophrenic young adults.

Two experiments were performed to determine if the dysfunction in mnemonic organization often found in schizophrenic free-recall performance is the result of an organizational deficit in short-term memory processing. In Exp I, which tested 16 schizophrenics, 16 nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients, and 16 nonpatient controls, categorical cues (letters and digits) were introduced into a Sternberg item recognition task. Schizophrenics utilized the categorical cue to reduce their latencies for search and retrieval as well as did both normals and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients. In Exp II, which used a Sternberg context-recall task and tested the same number and type of Ss (31 also served in Exp I), latencies for both forward and backward sequential retrieval were measured. Schizophrenics again performed as well as controls. Data also suggest that the retrieval strategies adopted by schizophrenics were comparable to those of controls in both experiments. It is concluded that schizophrenics' short-term memory processes for categorical and sequential materials are adequate and therefore are not responsible for the organizational dysfunction in their free-recall performance. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)