Impairment of recognition memory with, but not without, conscious recollection in schizophrenia

Objective: To test the hypothesis that there is a link between the memory deficit associated with schizophrenia and an impairment of consciousness, an experiential approach was used to assess recognition memory and awareness in schizophrenic patients and normal subjects. Method: On a recognition memory task with low- and high-frequency words, the schizo-phrenic (N=30) and normal (N=30) subjects gave “remember ” responses to recognized items that were accompanied by conscious recollection and “know ” responses to items that were recognized on the basis offamiliarity without any recollective experience. Results: Schizophre-nia selectively impaired recognition based on recollective experience, as measured by “remem-ber “ responses, but had no effects on “know “ responses. In the comparison group, low-fre-quency words, relative to high-frequency words, enhanced conscious recollection but not familiarity. The schizophrenic patients did not display the same word-frequency effect. n. clusions: These results indicate that schizophrenia affects differentially two means ofaccess to the personalpast: it impairs recognition memory with, but not without, conscious recollection. They suggest that the impairment ofconscious recollection observed in schizophrenic patients could be due to a failure of elaborative processing of information