Vanessa Lozano1, M Felipa Soriano2, J Ignacio Aznarte2, Carlos J Gómez-Ariza3, M Teresa Bajo4. 1. a Research Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Granada , Granada , Spain. 2. b Mental Health Unit, San Agustin Hospital , Linares , Spain. 3. c Department of Psychology , University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain. 4. d Research Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, University of Granada , Granada , Spain.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Whereas deficits in executive functioning have been widely reported in schizophrenia and, somewhat less, in bipolar disorder, few studies have addressed this issue in people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Importantly, no studies to date have compared the ability to cope with interfering information in all three groups of patients. Impairment in executive control has been associated with reduced daily functioning. METHOD: The sample included 20 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, 19 with bipolar disorder, 20 with borderline personality disorder, and 19 demographically matched healthy volunteers. Participants were administered two different experimental tasks to assess the ability to exert control over interference arisen from semantic memory or from distracting perceptual information. RESULTS: The three groups of patients showed similar impairment in solving interference from semantic memory compared to controls. However, no psychiatric group showed impairment in controlling interference from distracting perceptual information relative to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows, for the first time, that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder entail a common impairment in exerting control over interference arisen from memory but intact control over perceptual interference. These findings reinforce the idea that similar cognitive functioning may underlie severe mental disorders sharing poor global functioning but with different patterns of symptomatology.
BACKGROUND: Whereas deficits in executive functioning have been widely reported in schizophrenia and, somewhat less, in bipolar disorder, few studies have addressed this issue in people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Importantly, no studies to date have compared the ability to cope with interfering information in all three groups of patients. Impairment in executive control has been associated with reduced daily functioning. METHOD: The sample included 20 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, 19 with bipolar disorder, 20 with borderline personality disorder, and 19 demographically matched healthy volunteers. Participants were administered two different experimental tasks to assess the ability to exert control over interference arisen from semantic memory or from distracting perceptual information. RESULTS: The three groups of patients showed similar impairment in solving interference from semantic memory compared to controls. However, no psychiatric group showed impairment in controlling interference from distracting perceptual information relative to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows, for the first time, that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder entail a common impairment in exerting control over interference arisen from memory but intact control over perceptual interference. These findings reinforce the idea that similar cognitive functioning may underlie severe mental disorders sharing poor global functioning but with different patterns of symptomatology.
Authors: Barbara Penolazzi; Fabio Del Missier; Davide Francesco Stramaccia; Anna Laura Monego; Luigi Castelli; Amalia Manzan; Marco Bertoli; Giovanni Galfano Journal: J Behav Addict Date: 2020-06-16 Impact factor: 6.756