目的 探讨首发精神分裂症患者是否普遍存在视觉工作记忆缺陷，其损伤性质如何，是否与刺激、症状学及社会功能评分相关，同时分析其在精神分裂症早期诊断中的作用。方法 纳入首发精神分裂症患者和正常对照者各18例，进行2项视觉搜索任务，分别是面孔和物品（房子）搜索，比较2组被试者的正确率和反应时。结果 精神分裂症患者搜索面孔和房子的反应时与正确率受损程度相当（P<0.01），其工作记忆缺陷独立于记忆负荷，且与病程、药物治疗剂量或症状严重程度无关（P均>0.4）。结论 首发精神分裂症患者的视觉工作记忆缺陷与刺激及记忆负荷可能无关。

Objective: Working memory deficit has been found in people with schizophrenia and is thought to be a core cognitive dysfunction. However, little is known that whether the working memory deficits are different in working memory tasks using different stimuli. Methods: In the current study, a typical match-to-sample task was adopted to exa-mine the visual working memory in first-episode schizophrenic patients(n=18) and healthy controls(n=18). Face and house were used as the stimuli and the memory load was manipulated. Results: As face processing has been shown to be impaired in schizophrenia, it was hypothesized that the deficit is more severe in face working memory task than that in house working memory task. However, the results showed an equivalent amount of deficits in face and house working memory task. In addition, the working memory deficit was also independent of the memory load and had no relationship with the duration of illness, the medication, or the schizophrenic symptoms. Conclusions: These results imply that the working memory deficit in schizophrenia is independent of the stimuli.