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Ahnallen, Christopher

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Ahnallen

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Christopher

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Ahnallen, Christopher
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.8ccf424a-c8ec-41c7-8fdd-476184c99cdb

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    Early nicotine withdrawal and transdermal nicotine effects on neurocognitive performance in schizophrenia
    (Elsevier BV, 2008) Ahnallen, Christopher; Nestor, Paul; Shenton, Martha; McCarley, Robert William; Niznikiewicz, Margaret
    As cigarette smoking prevalence rates approach 90% in schizophrenia, an important emerging question is the role of nicotine in the disease-related disturbance in cognition. We therefore tested a total of 38 male cigarette smokers (22 schizophrenia, 16 normal control), matched on nicotine dependence, on the Attention Network Test (ANT) at three nicotine conditions (baseline, 8hr overnight withdrawal, 3hr 21mg nicotine patch). The results indicated that the groups did not differ in performance on either of three ANT measures (alertness, orienting, and executive) across baseline, patch, and withdrawal conditions. However, in comparison to the controls, the participants with schizophrenia showed faster ANT reaction time (RT) for the nicotine patch in relation to the baseline condition. In comparison to controls, the participants with schizophrenia also showed reduced ANT accuracy at withdrawal but not at patch condition. These results suggest that overall processing speed and accuracy are affected differently by nicotine levels in participants with schizophrenia, with evidence supporting greater impairment from withdrawal and greater improvement from nicotine administration.
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    The role of retrieval inhibition in the associative memory impairment of schizophrenia
    (Elsevier BV, 2007) Ahnallen, Christopher; Nestor, Paul; McCarley, Robert William; Shenton, Martha
    To examine retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) in schizophrenia, subjects studied category-exemplar words taken from either strong or weak categories, and then practiced retrieval by completing category word-stems on half of the word pairs. Patients had reduced recall and recognition, but showed the expected RIF effect of better recall of unpracticed items from unpracticed categories than for unpracticed items from practiced categories. By contrast, patients and controls showed differing RIF for recognition as a function of categorical dominance: whereas controls showed RIF only for dominant category exemplar word pairs, patients showed RIF for both dominant and weak categories. Different patterns of baseline practiced retrieval for weak associate pairs in schizophrenia may explain this finding. The results failed to support faulty RIF in the associative memory impairment of schizophrenia.