Psychiatry Research
Volume 144, Issue 2 , Pages 123-130, 15 November 2006

Interaction of negative olfactory stimulation and working memory in schizophrenia patients: Development and evaluation of a behavioral neuroimaging task

  • Frank Schneider

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +49 241 80 89 633; fax: +49 241 80 82 401.
    • ,
  • Kathrin Koch

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • Martina Reske

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • Thilo Kellermann

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • N. Seiferth

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • Tony Stöcker

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medicine, Research Center, Jülich, Germany
    • ,
  • Katrin Amunts

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medicine, Research Center, Jülich, Germany
    • ,
  • N. Jon Shah

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medicine, Research Center, Jülich, Germany
    • ,
  • Ute Habel

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany

Received 21 June 2004; received in revised form 25 October 2004; accepted 16 December 2004.

Abstract 

Negative affect plays a crucial role in the psychopathology of schizophrenia. Although it is known that negative emotion has a strong effect on cognitive performance, this interaction has mainly been studied in healthy volunteers. Hence, working memory was assessed in 24 schizophrenia patients and 24 matched comparison subjects with a 0-back/2-back continuous performance test. Simultaneously, negative emotion was induced by olfactory stimulation. Although subjective ratings confirmed that stimulation with a negative odor was associated with a significant increase in negative affect in patients and healthy volunteers, working memory performance was affected differentially in healthy volunteers and schizophrenia patients. Whilst a similar trend of a reduced behavioral performance during negative odor stimulation was observed in patients, only controls demonstrated a significantly higher response time and a reduced number of correct reactions during higher working memory demands (2-back). Patients, on the other hand, revealed an increase in false alarms during both conditions. The present data indicate a differential effect of negative mood induction on working memory performance in schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects.

Keywords: Olfaction, n-back task, Emotion, Mood induction

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PII: S0165-1781(05)00347-1

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2004.12.013

Psychiatry Research
Volume 144, Issue 2 , Pages 123-130, 15 November 2006

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