Cognitive remediation training is a promising behavioral technique for improving cognitive function in individuals with schizophrenia. Researchers consistently conclude that cognitive remediation is effective in improving performance on specific attention, memory, and executive function tasks. However, the clinical meaningfulness of this intervention remains a largely unexamined question. Clinically significant effects of cognitive remediation would include evidence that: 1) there has been a return to normal levels of cognitive function; 2) normal levels of cognitive function are sustained after the conclusion of training; 3) the effects of the intervention generalize to other measures of targeted neurocognitive functions not specifically trained; 4) the intervention is beneficial to a significant portion of individuals with schizoprhenia. In order to take the best advantage of this intervention, it would also be important to identify who is most likely to respond to the intervention with clinically meaningful change. The proposed study addresses the above-mentioned issue of clinical meaningfulness of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia by: 1) obtaining normative (healthy control) performance data on a commonly used cognitive remediation battery; 2) using the obtained normative data to determine the proportion of schizophrenia patients who meaningfully benefit from cognitive remediation training (i.e. attain normal levels of performance); 3) evaluating whether normal-level performance is sustained up to 6 months following the end of the intervention; 4) evaluating whether remediation of cognitive task battery performance generalizes to untrained neuropsychological tests; 5) examining pre-treatment variables which predict the efficacy of cognitive remediation training.
| Fiszdon, Joanna M; Johannesen, Jason K (2010) Functional significance of preserved affect recognition in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 176:120-5 |
