Is There a Link Between an Unstable Identity

Is There a Link Between an Unstable Identity and Autobiographical Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia ? Blairy , S. , Dethier, M. , and Boulanger, M. Department of psychology : cognition and behavior , University of Liege, Belgium Email: marie. boulanger@ulg. ac. be INTRODUCTION METHOD Previous literature suggests that schizophrenia is characterized by a disturbed, fragmented and/or poorly elaborated personal identity (e. g. , Danion et al. , 2005; De-Bonis, De Boeck, Lida-Pulik, & Feline A, 1995). Schizophrenia is also associated with a reduction of specific autobiographical memories (AM), that is, an impairment of the capacities to recall specific personal life events. This impairment is consistent with a disturbed personal identity (Riutort et al. , 2003). The impairment of AM in schizophrenia results from a failure of the strategic processes that bind the separated aspects of the event to be recollected, such as the content of the event and its contextual characteristics (i. e, where, when, and how the event occurred). These strategic processes are sustained by the executive functions. Twenty seven schizophrenia patients and 27 normal subjects completed (1) A personality test (LABEL) specially designed to evaluate the stability of identity over time (2) A validated French version of the AMT ( participants were asked to retrieve specific personal events in response to ten cue words) (3) The BDI and the STAI-YB to assess levels of depressive and anxious symptomatology, respectively. (4) Tests measuring the executive functions: The verbal Letter Fluency task , the Digit Span Test, forward and backward orders (WAIS-III), and the Stroop Colour-Word Test HYPOTHESIS Compared to healthy subjects, schizophrenia patients have (1) an unstable self-knowledge , (2) deficits in AM, (3) deficits in executive functions (4) higher depressive and anxious symptoms. Further, we expected that the unstable self-knowledge is related to (1) deficits in AM and (2) anxious and depressive symptoms, (3) neurocognitive functioning. RESULTATS As expected (see Table 1), compared to healthy subjects, schizophrenia patients reported less specific events, performed lower to the neuropsychological evaluations. They also reported more depressive symptoms than healthy subjects. Finally, the results to the Label test revealed a more unstable identity in schizophrenia patients than in healthy subjects. Relationships between self-knowledge and memory specificity (AM) No significant correlation emerged Relationships between self-knowledge and measures of cognitive function A significant correlation emerged between the label scores and the stroop scores r(52)=. 51, p<. 001. Table 1. Results from the evaluations Means (SD) in function of group Schizophrenia Healthy. 68 (. 27) . 81 (. 15) DIGIT SPAN , Forward * 5. 03 (0. 94) 5. 89 (1. 5) DIGIT SPAN, Backward * 3. 55 (0. 85) 4. 7 (1. 63) VERBAL FLUENCY * 27. 92 (10. 95) 36. 48 (9. 12) STROOP ( Interference score) * 148. 54 (32. 25) 100. 11 (25. 51) BDI-II * 13. 37 (9. 21) 6. 96 (7. 07) STAY 45. 78 (9. 12) 41. 37 (9. 47) 6. 92 (2. 5) 8. 74 (3. 4) Label AMT, number of specific events * * p <. 05 Relationships between self-knowledge and the intensity of affective symptoms Relationships between AM and measures of cognitive functioning Significant correlations emerged between the label scores and the BDI scores as well as the STAI scores, r(53)=. 39, p=. 003; r(53)=. 32, p=. 02, respectively). Significant correlations emerged between AM and Stroop scores, Digit Span backward, verbal fluency r(52) =. 52, p <. 001, r(52) =. 54, p<. 001, r(52) =. 35, p =. 004, respectively Difference in self-knowledge between groups : ANCOVA Ancova were conducted with the stroop, BDI scores as covariates and the self-knowledge as dependent variable, for each analysis the main effect of group disappeared. Difference in AM between groups : ANCOVA A Ancova was conducted with the neuropsychological measures as covariates and the AM score as dependent variable, the main effect of group disappeared DISCUSSION: The results underlined the crucial rule of the executive functions on the capacities to generated specific past events as well as on the stability of the self knowledge. Contrary to expected, no significant relationship was found between the ability to generate specific events and the stability of self-knowledge. The absence of relationship could be explained by the fact that the selfknowledge is related to the semantic memory while the content of AM is largely related to the episodic memory.