Table 1.

Cognitive Impairments in Schizophrenia, Functional Outcomes, and Cognitive Training Strategies

Targeted Domain	Importance for Everyday Functioning (Work, School, Independent Living)	Specific Compensatory Strategies and Habits in Cognitive Training
Prospective Memory	Remembering to go to work or school Remembering to take medications Remembering to turn in school assignments Remembering to do assigned tasks at work in response to cues	Daily calendar use To-do lists and prioritizing tasks Linking tasks or using “can’t miss reminders” to remember tasks
Attention and Vigilance	Paying attention to communications from supervisors and coworkers Maintaining attention in class or while studying Maintaining attention to work tasks or household projects without getting distracted	Conversational vigilance skills (reduce distractions, eye contact, paraphrasing, and asking questions) Task vigilance skills (paraphrase instructions, use self-talk during tasks to maintain focus)
Learning and Memory	Learning and remembering work tasks Learning novel information in school or vocational training Learning and remembering names of supervisors and coworkers	Encoding strategies (write things down, paraphrasing/repetition, association, chunking, categorizing, acronyms, rhymes, visual imagery, name-learning strategies) Retrieval strategies (systematic searching) and organizational strategies for general learning and memory
Executive Functioning (Problem Solving and Cognitive Flexibility)	Problem solving and coping with unexpected situations on the job or in vocational training, or at home Being able to balance demands of work/school with home/family needs Thinking flexibly and self-monitoring performance at work	6-step problem solving method (define problem, brainstorm solutions, evaluate solutions systematically, select a solution, try it, evaluate how it worked) Self-talk while solving problems Hypothesis testing Self-monitoring