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Executive function processes mediate the impact of working memory impairment on intelligence in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

P. Wongupparaj ,
V. Kumari  and
R.G. Morris
P. Wongupparaj*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, P078, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, LondonSE5 8AF, UK
V. Kumari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, P078, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, LondonSE5 8AF, UK NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
R.G. Morris
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, P078, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, LondonSE5 8AF, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +00 44 207 848 5716. E-mail address:peera.wongupparaj@kcl.ac.uk, bentley45@hotmail.com (P. Wongupparaj).
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Abstract

Objective:

The study investigated working memory, executive functions (conceptualized as response inhibition, updating, and shifting), and intelligence in schizophrenia, using structural equation modelling to determine the relationship between working memory and intelligence, testing whether specific executive functions act as a mediator for the association.

Method:

One hundred and twenty-five individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 64 healthy participants were included in the study, tested using measures of working memory, intelligence and executive functioning. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate direct and indirect associations between main measures.

Results:

The schizophrenia group had significantly lower working memory, executive function and intelligence than the healthy group. The relationship between working memory and intelligence was significantly mediated by inhibition, updating and shifting functions.

Conclusion:

The study indicates a mediating role of executive functions in determining the association between working memory and intellectual function in schizophrenia. It is further proposed that in people with schizophrenia, cognitive remediation approaches targeting working memory through executive functioning may in turn improve intellectual function generally.

Keywords

Working memoryExecutive functionsIntelligenceSchizophreniaStructural equation modelling
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2015

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