Aim:

The present study aimed to explore the two‐year naturalistic trajectory of time‐ and event‐based prospective memory (PM) in patients with first‐episode schizophrenia. Methods:

We administered a computer‐based dual‐task PM paradigm to 57 individuals with first‐episode schizophrenia at baseline and after 6 months, 12 months and 24 months. Forty‐eight healthy controls were also recruited and completed all the measures at baseline. We compared the trajectories between time‐based and event‐based PM in first‐episode schizophrenia patients using repeated measures ANOVAs, and examined the relationship between PM and clinical symptoms using Spearman's correlation. Results:

PM impairments improved significantly after 24 months of follow‐up. However, time‐based and event‐based PM appeared to run different trajectories. After 24 months, first‐episode schizophrenia patient performed poorer than healthy controls in time‐based but not event‐based PM. PM did not appear to be correlated with clinical symptoms, both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Conclusions:

This is one of the longest follow‐up studies investigating PM in first‐episode schizophrenia. Our results provide evidence to support that time‐based PM is more temporally stable than event‐based PM.