Suboptimal processing strategy and working-memory impairments predict abstraction deficit in schizophrenia.

We studied the relationship between abstraction and other, more basic, cognitive functions in 78 schizophrenia patients and 57 healthy controls. Patients' performance was impaired compared to that of healthy individuals. Regression analysis showed significant contributions of task latency, spatial working memory, and verbal working memory to abstraction performance. The model explained 56.9% of the variance. The latency contribution included linear and quadratic components indicating optimal strategies for normal abstraction performance. Abnormal (suboptimal) processing strategies and working-memory dysfunctions predict impaired abstraction in schizophrenia. The model presented may enable differentiation between impaired and compensating components in schizophrenia patients with an abstraction deficit.