Verbal learning and memory in schizotypal personality disorder

The investigation of cognitive deficits in patients with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) is important both to establish commonalities between SPD and schizophrenia and to clarify the significance of these cognitive deficits for schizophrenic disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine verbal learning and memory with the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) in a group of patients with SPD (n = 24) and a group of patients with personality disorders other than SPD (OPD; n = 25). The results indicated that SPD patients learned significantly fewer words with practice on the CVLT than OPD patients (F = 4.32, df = 1,47, p < 0.05), and their rate of learning was reduced relative to normative standards. These findings suggest that SPD patients have a deficit in verbal learning that is similar to, although not as severe as, the impairments seen in schizophrenia.