ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Comparison of the neurocognitive profiles of individuals with elevated psychotic or depressive symptoms
Michael Grossman,
Michael W. Best,
Allyson G. Harrison,
Christopher R. Bowie,
Michael Grossman
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorMichael W. Best
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorAllyson G. Harrison
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Christopher R. Bowie
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Correspondence
Christopher R. Bowie, Department of Psychology, Queen's University, 62 Arch Street, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorMichael Grossman,
Michael W. Best,
Allyson G. Harrison,
Christopher R. Bowie,
Michael Grossman
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorMichael W. Best
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorAllyson G. Harrison
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Christopher R. Bowie
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Correspondence
Christopher R. Bowie, Department of Psychology, Queen's University, 62 Arch Street, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Aim
Neurocognitive deficits are pervasive and enduring features of severe mental illness that appear before the onset of clinical symptoms and contribute to functional disability. However, it remains unclear how individuals who display warning signs for psychotic or mood disorders compare on their neurocognitive profiles since previous studies have separately examined neurocognition in both groups. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to directly compare performance on a range of neurocognitive tasks in individuals with emerging psychotic or mood symptoms.
Methods
Participants were drawn from a database of individuals who completed a comprehensive assessment at a university-based assessment centre. We examined 3 groups: individuals who endorsed elevated psychotic symptoms (EPS; n = 64), individuals who endorsed elevated depressive symptoms (EDS; n = 58), or non-clinical comparisons (NCC; n = 57) without any elevated psychiatric symptoms or diagnoses.
Results
EPS participants performed worse than NCC and EDS groups on verbal comprehension, working memory and cognitive flexibility, and worse than NCC, but not EDS, on perceptual reasoning. There were no significant differences between groups on processing speed, verbal fluency and set-shifting. EDS performed worse than both EPS and NCC groups on psychomotor speed. Dimensionally, poorer cognitive functioning was more strongly related to EPS than depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the distinct yet overlapping neurocognitive profiles of both groups with emerging psychiatric symptoms, and suggest that, despite having no formal diagnosis, individuals with EPS exhibit observable cognitive impairment and may still benefit from interventions within academic and workplace contexts.
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