Patients with psychiatric disorders often experience cognitive dysfunction, but the precise relationship between cognitive deficits and psychopathology remains unclear. We investigated the relationships between domains of cognitive functioning and psychopathology in a transdiagnostic sample using a data-driven approach.

Cross-sectional network analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between domains of psychopathology and cognitive functioning and detect clusters in the network. This naturalistic transdiagnostic sample consists of 1016 psychiatric patients who have a variety of psychiatric diagnoses, such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive−compulsive and related disorders, and schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed using various questionnaires. Core cognitive domains were assessed with a battery of automated tests.

Network analysis detected three clusters that we labelled: general psychopathology, substance use, and cognition. Depressive and anxiety symptoms, verbal memory, and visual attention were the most central nodes in the network. Most associations between cognitive functioning and symptoms were negative, i.e. increased symptom severity was associated with worse cognitive functioning. Cannabis use, (subclinical) psychotic experiences, and anhedonia had the strongest total negative relationships with cognitive variables.

Cognitive functioning and psychopathology are independent but related dimensions, which interact in a transdiagnostic manner. Depression, anxiety, verbal memory, and visual attention are especially relevant in this network and can be considered independent transdiagnostic targets for research and treatment in psychiatry. Moreover, future research on cognitive functioning in psychopathology should take a transdiagnostic approach, focusing on symptom-specific interactions with cognitive domains rather than investigating cognitive functioning within diagnostic categories.

精神障碍患者经常出现认知功能障碍，但认知缺陷与精神病理学之间的确切关系仍不清楚。我们使用数据驱动的方法研究了跨诊断样本中认知功能领域与精神病理学之间的关系。

进行了横断面网络分析，以调查精神病理学领域与认知功能之间的关系，并检测网络中的集群。这个自然跨诊断样本由 1016 名精神病患者组成，他们有各种精神病诊断，例如抑郁症、焦虑症、强迫症和相关疾病，以及精神分裂症谱系和其他精神病。使用各种问卷评估精神病理学症状。核心认知领域通过一系列自动化测试进行评估。

网络分析检测到我们标记的三个集群：一般精神病理学、物质使用和认知。抑郁和焦虑症状、语言记忆和视觉注意力是网络中最中心的节点。认知功能与症状之间的大多数关联是负面的，即症状严重程度增加与认知功能恶化相关。大麻使用、（亚临床）精神病经历和快感缺乏与认知变量的总体负相关关系最强。

认知功能和精神病理学是独立但相关的维度，它们以跨诊断的方式相互作用。抑郁、焦虑、语言记忆和视觉注意力在该网络中尤其相关，可以被视为精神病学研究和治疗的独立跨诊断目标。此外，未来对精神病理学认知功能的研究应该采用跨诊断方法，关注特定症状与认知领域的相互作用，而不是调查诊断类别中的认知功能。