[Short term memory disturbances in paranoid schizophrenia--results of assessments with pictogram].

Short term memory (STM) was assessed in schizophrenic patients. 30 schizophrenic subjects and 30 healthy controls were examined with the pictogram test. The analysis of the results suggests that there is a disturbance in abstracting information in paranoid schizophrenia. Schizophrenic patients are not able to keep the limits of a concept of abstract information, while external information causes a fixation of the attention on stimuli, which are not important for the whole process. The process of decoding information does not proceed according to a certain recall strategy, but is determined by subjective importance of stimuli. The short term memory mechanisms are fixed by decreased control functions.