Neuropsychological Analysis of Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia

Abstract: Neuropsychological factors underlying the impairment of the systemic activity of the brain and the formation of hearing-cognitive deficit in patients with schizophrenia were investigated. A comparative analysis of the results of a comparative comprehensive psychophysiological study of hearing-cognitive functions in persons suffering from schizophrenia and healthy persons has been carried out. The original method of presenting clear and noisy auditory images as a cognitive load was used. The quantitative (speed) and qualitative (semantic) parameters of auditory non-verbal perception, as well as indicators of the state of auditory-speech memory, are determined. The theoretical neuropsychological factor analysis of neurocognitive deficit was the concept of Luria on the three functional blocks of the brain (FBB) and factor analysis as systemic principles of the organization of the cognitive activity of the brain. Systemic disorders of cognitive functioning, affecting all three FBB, were determined. For the first time, significant quantitative and qualitative components of the auditory–cognitive deficit were revealed in the form of a 2.6- to 2.9-fold decrease in the rate of perception of auditory non-verbal information, a 2.5-times decrease in the substantive efficiency of auditory perceptual activity, and a variable deterioration of auditory–speech memory. From the standpoint of factor analysis these data are discussed as a set of neuropsychological factors underlying the “negative” symptomatology. © 2022, Pleiades Publishing, Inc.