Abnormalities of cognitive function are a key component of schizophrenia, compromising working memory and episodic memory processes (e.g., Barch, 2005; Pelletier et al., 2005). It has been hypothesized that receptive language dysfunction in schizophrenia represents a learning disorder that is caused by a core deficit in the temporal dynamics of brain function (Condray, 2005), which may be linked to abnormalities of left hemisphere structure and morphology within the supratemporal plane (i.e., planum temporale; e.g., Barta et al., 1990; Falkai et al., 1995; Kawasaki et al., 2008) and associated left-lateralized processes typically mediating language-related functions (e.g., Flor-Henry, 1969, 1976; Crow, 1990, 1997, 2004b; DeLisi et al., 1997). Moderate impairments of verbal episodic memory and learning have repeatedly been reported in schizophrenia (e.g., Goldberg et al., 1993; Saykin et al., 1991), and these verbal memory deficits appear to be unrelated to medication status or chronicity (e.g., Albus et al., 2006; Hill et al., 2004; Saykin et al., 1994). Although it may be difficult to differentiate verbal memory from a more generalized cognitive dysfunction (Blanchard and Neale, 1994), there is growing evidence that
