Retention of Verbal Paired-Associates by Schizophrenic Subjects

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that schizophrenic Ss retain verbal paired-associate items as well as normal Ss, using retention intervals of 7, 14, and 28 days. The results of the study did not support this hypothesis since the schizophrenic Ss recalled significantly fewer items than did a comparable group of normal Ss. The trend of the relearning data was similar. on the other hand, retention tended to decrease approximately at the same rate for both groups over the different retention intervals. While the recall data conflict with previous reported findings, they were interpreted as being consistent with the general notion that schizophrenic Ss exhibit a pervasive psychological deficit which manifests itself in their performance on most cognitive tasks.