Tardive dyskinesia and cognitive impairment.

Several studies (Famuyiwa et al. 1979; Struve and Wilner 1983; Wolf et al. 1983; Myslobodsky et al. 1985) point to an association between tardive dyskinesia and cognitive functioning, although these findings are not always replicated (Pryce and Edwards 1966; Edwards 1970; Donnelly and Jeste 1981). The present study was conducted to further evaluate the relationship between cognitive function and tardive dyskinesia. Given the notion that Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases might provide a neuropsychological, as well as a biochemical, model for tatdive dyskinesia (Myslobodsky et al. 1985), tasks were selected that reveal cognitive impairment in these disorders.