Nicotine helps schizophrenics with attention and memory.

0 Comments | M2 Presswire, June, 2005

M2 PRESSWIRE-23 June 2005-YALE UNIVERSITY: Nicotine helps schizophrenics with attention and memory(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD RDATE:23062005 New Haven, Conn. -- Cigarette smoking may improve attention and short-term memory in persons with schizophrenia by stimulating nicotine receptors in the brain, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the June issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.

Persons with schizophrenia smoke two to three times more than smokers without mental illness, said the researchers. They found that when study subjects with schizophrenia stopped smoking, attention and short-term memory were more impaired, but, when they started smoking again, their cognitive function improved. No effects from stopping or...