Applying new approaches from cognitive neuroscience to enhance drug development for the treatment of impaired cognition in schizophrenia

New approaches to the measurement of cognition in schizophrenia include the use of tasks from experimental cognitive psychology to examine the integrity of specific cognitive systems and the application of these tasks in noninvasive neuroimaging (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) studies that directly measure the effects of drugs on cognition-related brain activity. These approaches offer many advantages, including the isolation of specific cognitive systems that may be conserved across species; controlling for the confounding effects of generalized performance deficits such as poor motivation, sedation, and so on; and providing a direct translational bridge from studies using animal models of cognition to patient-based research using fMRI. These developments have the potential to transform the early human phases of drug development and streamline the decision making at this critical point in the process. As was the case for the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia initiative, optimizing the application of cognitive neuroscience to new drug development will require a major commitment by multiple investigators to task development and a thorough psychometric evaluation of both behavioral and neuroimaging measures.