Qualitatively different delay-dependent working memory distortions in people with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects.

BACKGROUND

Impairments in working memory(WM) have been well-documented in people with schizophrenia(PSZ). However, these WM impairments can often be explained by nonspecific factors, such as impaired goal maintenance. Here, we used a spatial orientation delayed-response task to explore a difference in WM dynamics between PSZ and healthy control subjects(HCS). Specifically, we took advantage of the discovery that WM representations may drift either toward or away from previous-trial targets(serial dependence). We tested the hypothesis that WM representations drift toward the previous-trial target in HCS but away from the previous-trial target in PSZ.

METHODS

We assessed serial dependence in PSZ(N=31) and HCS(N=25), using orientation as the to-be-remembered feature and memory delays from 0 to 8s. Participants were asked to remember the orientation of a teardrop-shaped object and reproduce the orientation after a varying delay period.

RESULTS

Consistent with prior studies, we found that current-trial memory representations were less precise in PSZ than in HCS. We also found that WM for the current-trial orientation drifted the previous-trial orientation in HCS(representational attraction) but drifted from the previous-trial orientation in PSZ(representational repulsion).

CONCLUSIONS

These results demonstrate a qualitative difference in WM dynamics between PSZ and HCS that cannot easily be explained by nuisance factors such as reduced effort. Most computational neuroscience models also fail to explain these results, because they maintain information solely by means of sustained neural firing, which does not extend across trials. The results suggest a fundamental difference between PSZ and HCS in longer-term memory mechanisms that persist across trials, such as short-term potentiation and neuronal adaptation.