The Translation of Cognitive Paradigms for Patient Research

Abstract

Cate exactly which cognitive processes and neural systems are responsible for the molar deficits documented with clinical assessment methods. To address specific cogni- tive mechanisms, many clinical researchers are turning toward the basic cognitive psychology and cognitive neu- roscience literatures in search of behavioral paradigms that can isolate and quantify specific cognitive processes and the corresponding neural systems. However, several roadblocks stand in the way of adapting cognitive para- digms that were developed in the basic science literature, andadvances in basiccognitive psychologyhavenotbeen widely translated into clinical research, slowing progress in understanding the nature of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Over the past 7 years, our team of basic and clinical researchers has attempted to translate approximately 15 basic science paradigms for use with schizophrenia patients, and the purpose of the present article is to de- scribe some of the lessons we have learned that may be helpful to other researchers as they attempt to adapt state-of-the-art basic science tasks for use in various pa- tient groups. We describe 2 general types of issues that arise in adapting basic science paradigms: (a) task selec- tion and modification issues that arise when tasks devel- oped for college students are used in older, less educated, and lower functioning patients and control subjects and (b) measurement issues that are of great importance in patient studies but are typically irrelevant and therefore ignored in basic science studies.