The 2-back task response time showed a trend for the main effect of diagnosis (schizophrenia, 895.29 ± 504.43 ms; HC, 825.64 ± 276.44 ms; Wald χ 2 = 2.9, df = 1, P = .088) and HSV-1 status (HSV1 + = 986.74 ± 527.78 ms; HSV1 − = 712.39 ± 438.30 ms, Wald χ 2 = 3.45, df 1, P = 0.06) and diagnosis-by-HSV1 status interaction (Wald χ 2 = 3.6, df = 1, P = .058).
The 2-back mean response time showed a trend toward significance for the diagnosis, HSV-1 status, and diagnosis-by-HSV-1 exposure interaction, with nonsignificant differences in accuracy of performance. fMRI data mainly showed increased BOLD responses among both schizophrenia and HSV-1–exposed individuals suggesting that an increased neurobiological effort in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), posterior parietal cortex, hippocampus/parahippocampus, thalamus, substantia nigra, and superior temporal lobes is needed to achieve accuracy of working memory performance comparable to unexposed participants.