Association of computational ability and digit span in schizophrenia patients

ABSTRACT

Present study is an endeavor to assess the relationship between computational abilities and digit span in patients of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is characterized by various executive function disabilities; working memory is one of few very important aspects among these. The construct being very significant in understanding the cognitive deficits associated with the schizophrenia, has been reported to be well assessed by various indices. Present study is an endeavor to study the performance of patients of schizophrenia on two of them that is, an Arithmetic test and a Digit span measure. It was assumed that the two set of scores will be highly correlated in patients of schizophrenia. For the purpose 101 individuals were included as participants in the study, 57 of them were the diagnosed patients of schizophrenia while the remaining 44 were the controls selected from the community. Both of the groups were tested on Arithmetic and digit span tasks. Results reflect that scores of schizophrenia patients on both measures were found significantly correlated [r=.610, p<.001], while in controls the association found was not significant [r=. 169, p>. 05]