M.L. MANESCHI, C. LEONE, G. BERSANI - Vol. 9, September 2003, Issue 3
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Indice
La Dislessia quale possibile elemento di alterazione
cognitiva della Schizofrenia: uno studio neuropsicologico
Dyslexia as a possible element of cognitive alteration in schizophrenia:
a neuropsychological study
Objective
This study bridges dyslexia research with
brain neurodevelopmental abnormalities in schizophrenic patients, aiming at
testing the hypothesis of a subgroup of patients whose neurocognitive impairment
could be related to a higher degree to language disorder. Genetic and non-genetic
factors are hypothesized to interact in inducing a global cerebral malfunction
leading both to learning disabilities in childhood and to psychotic clinical
manifestations in adult age.
Method
The study group consisted of 35 male subjects with DSM-IV Schizophrenia,
undergoing neuropsychological assessment by: Wechsler Bellevue Intelligence
Scale (verbal and nonverbal IQ); Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Benton-Visual
Retention Test (working memory, visual and spatial memory, slow and long memory);
Sartori-Auditory Visual Learning Test (reading and listening comprehension
phonemes, words and abstract words); Learning history check list (schooling
and working difficulty).
Results
23 subjects (67,65%) had significantly higher scores of dyslexia, with
alteration of visual retention and attention.
12 had phonological superficial dyslexia; 3 semantic deficit; 7 superficial
phonological attention deficit; 1 deep dyslexia.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that some pathogenic factors could be shared in
the origin of dyslexia, language disorder and neurocognitive impairment in
schizophrenics. The data are still preliminary; we are now trying to replicate
them in a larger sample of subjects, who will be subjected to MRI.