A.J. (Ante) Schlesselmann

Memory impairments are ubiquitous in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and were subject to thorough scrutiny from a neurobiological perspective in the past.

Yet this approach widely neglected the importance of psychological mechanisms in the aetiology of memory impairments. Our current research therefore focusses on psychological mechanisms that might be involved in the origin of memory issues in SSD. The rationale for our hypotheses is based on the recognition that the SSD population displays significant prevalence rates of trauma and in connection therewith dissociative symptoms, which may have an impact on memory functioning. In particular, we will examine the enhancement-avoidance hypothesis on memory-related processes in early (working memory) and later stages of processing (episodic and semantic memory).