Executive Subprocesses in Working Memory

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Abstract
COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION in the working memory domain is an attractive candidate intermediate phenotype in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia reliably demonstrate working memory impairments using a variety of cognitive tasks, and such impairments are not highly correlated with psychotic symptoms, are stable over time, and are usually unaffected by neuroleptic medications,1-8 increasing their potential value as a trait characteristic. Data from a series of family and twin studies9-18 suggest that impairment in working memory or cognitive control is also a heritable phenotype related to risk for schizophrenia, suggesting that it is a plausible intermediate phenotype. However, some of these studies involved small sample sizes and included parents and siblings (with possible confounds due to age and generation).