Schizophrenia

Question 1

Positive symptoms

Answer 1

Include delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behaviour

Question 2

Negative symptoms

Answer 2

Include diminished emotional expression and avolition

Question 3

Cognitive deficits

Answer 3

Include impairments in attention, memory, and executive functions

Question 4

Dopamine hypothesis

Answer 4

Disturbances in mesocortical dopaminergic pathway explain cognitive impairments

Question 5

Glutamate

Answer 5

Main excitatory neurotransmitter; dysfunction leads to schizophrenia symptoms

Question 6

Neuroanatomical differences

Answer 6

Include reduced brain weight, enlarged ventricles, and abnormal cellular structure

Question 7

Grey matter loss

Answer 7

Chronic SZ patients show reduced grey matter in specific brain regions

Question 8

Working memory

Answer 8

Impaired in schizophrenia, linked to proactive control and DLPFC

Question 9

Episodic memory

Answer 9

Impaired in schizophrenia, related to DLPFC and hippocampus

Question 10

(DLPFC)

Answer 10

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 11

Processing speed

Answer 11

Impaired in schizophrenia, linked to white matter integrity

Question 12

Dual mechanisms of control

Answer 12

Concept by Braver et al. involving proactive and reactive control

Question 13

Relational memory

Answer 13

More impaired than item memory in schizophrenia
Difficulty in reordering items in memory, linked to deficits in schizophrenia

associations between objects i.e names and faces

Question 14

Recollection

Answer 14

Remembering where exactly an item was seen/heard

Question 15

Effort-based decision making in SZ

Answer 15

Atypical in schizophrenia, linked to motivational impairments

Question 16

Motivational impairments

Answer 16

Affect social and occupational functioning in schizophrenia

Question 17

Effort-Based Decision-Making What is it?

Answer 17

Process involving evaluating reward, effort, and motivation

Question 18

Ventral Striatum

Answer 18

Brain structure linked to reward processing

Question 19

Proactive Control

Answer 19

Ability to maintain goal-relevant information in memory
e.g. when we know what is relevant in a task, we can focus our attention on the task-relevant features

Question 20

Glutamate Levels

Answer 20

Overall reduction in chronic SZ patients, predicted in Moghaddam & Javitt’s model

Question 21

Glutathione

Answer 21

Antioxidant closely related to glutamate, reduced in individuals with schizophrenia

Question 22

Neurometabolite Changes

Answer 22

Range of neurotransmitter systems involved in SZ, suggesting fewer white matter connections and cells

Question 23

Reactive Control

Answer 23

Adjustments made when goals are not met, associated with cognitive control loop