1. Supplementary Figure 1 a b c d
SZ10s and 10s age groups, accuracy per second
Normal
Schizophrenia a b c d
Supplementary Fig 1. Comparative results of SZ10s and 10s age groups. a-d show the accuracy per second of SZ10s and 10s age groups, at the different loads of difficulty with combinations of different learning time and delay span. * : p < 0.05; ** : p < 0.01; *** : p <

2. Supplementary Figure 2 a b c d
SZ30s and 30s age groups, accuracy per second
Normal
Schizophrenia
*** ** a b ** c
*** ** d
***
*** *
Supplementary Fig 2. Comparative results of SZ30s and 30s age groups. a-d show the accuracy per second of SZ30s and 30s age groups, at the different loads of difficulty with combinations of different learning time and delay span. * : p < 0.05; ** : p < 0.01; *** : p <

3. Supplementary Table 1
Accuracy per second of control group
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s
0.84±0.04
0.57±0.04
0.31±0.03
0.84±0.05
0.55±0.05
0.27±0.03
0.81±0.05
0.69±0.04
0.44±0.03
0.89±0.04
0.62±0.04
0.40±0.04
20s
0.95±0.04
0.66±0.04
0.43±0.04
1.06±0.03
0.80±0.04
0.44±0.04
1.00±0.03
0.85±0.04
1.03±0.04
0.82±0.04
0.59±0.04
30s
0.90±0.04
0.62±0.05
0.36±0.03
0.94±0.04
0.58±0.05
0.35±0.03
0.95±0.03
0.74±0.04
0.53±0.06
0.94±0.03
0.71±0.04
0.47±0.04
40s
0.37±0.03
0.90±0.03
0.59±0.05
0.31±0.04
0.86±0.03
0.41±0.03
0.89±0.03
0.63±0.04
0.39±0.03
50s
0.66±0.05
0.39±0.05
0.24±0.03
0.64±0.05
0.45±0.05
0.22±0.03
0.34±0.03
0.67±0.05
0.50±0.05
0.32±0.04
Accuracy per second p value of control group
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
20s vs 10s
0.0604
0.1438
0.0045
0.0002
<0.0001
0.0003
0.0044
0.0091
0.0004
20s vs 30s
0.4809
0.5579
0.1228
0.0494
0.0006
0.0657
0.2505
0.057
0.007
0.086
0.048
0.024
20s vs 40s
0.0722
0.2915
0.1874
0.0109
0.0011
0.0126
0.0101
0.0067
0.0141
0.0015
20s vs 50s
Accuracy per second of schizophrenia group
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ10s
0.80±0.04
0.55±0.06
0.25±0.04
0.83±0.05
0.56±0.06
0.26±0.04
0.84±0.04
0.61±0.05
0.42±0.04
0.65±0.05
0.38±0.04
SZ20s
0.66±0.06
0.48±0.06
0.21±0.03
0.68±0.06
0.20±0.04
0.78±0.04
0.62±0.06
0.43±0.05
0.81±0.04
0.54±0.05
0.28±0.03
SZ30s
0.59±0.06
0.43±0.06
0.21±0.04
0.22±0.04
0.64±0.05
0.49±0.04
0.35±0.04
0.46±0.05
0.31±0.04
Accuracy per second p value of schizophrenia group
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ20s vs SZ10s
0.0693
0.0473
0.4671
0.0688
0.3337
0.3617
0.4105
0.963
0.8381
0.6689
0.1292
0.1171
SZ20s vs SZ30s
0.3097
0.915
0.9315
0.2048
0.5845
0.7611
0.0314
0.0857
0.24
0.0197
0.2604
0.6855
Supplementary Table 1, Accuracy per second, various groups. Red indicates significant difference.

4. Comparative p value of accuracy per second
Supplementary Table 2
Comparative p value of accuracy per second
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s vs SZ10s
0.5478
0.9218
0.3205
0.8497
0.9192
0.8815
0.6424
0.2113
0.6144
0.3839
0.7112
0.7427
20s vs SZ20s
<0.0001
0.0005
0.0003
0.0004
30s vs SZ30s
0.0032
0.0043
0.0369
0.0148
0.0001
0.0022
0.0059
Supplementary Table 2, Comparison between schizophrenia and control groups, p value. Red indicates significant difference.

5. 4 9 2 3 5 7 8 1 6 Supplementary Figure 3 a b c
Supplementary Fig 3. The historical Chinese jiugongtu“九宫图”. (a), The jiugongtu map is a Chinese historical artifact developed several centuries before 0 BCE, perhaps first described in I Jing [25,37] . It presents a grid-like arrangement of number-marks. The substitution of numbers for the number of marks (b), shows that the numbers from 1 to 9 are arranged so as to add up to 15 in whatever dimension we proceed to calculate. This magic square is well-known in Chinese culture, making it a friendly and understandable spatial map for subjects. (c), The SWAPS test uses the nine-spaced grid as a background, but fills it with paired symbols.

6. Supplementary Figure 4 a b c d e f g h
Correct choice, control (%)
load 2
load 3
load 4 a b c d e f g h
Correct choice, schizophrenia (%)
Supplementary Fig 4. Comparison of schizophrenic and healthy groups. SWAPS showed the highest percentage of correct choices in the age (group 20s) healthy control group but not in schizophrenia patients ages (group SZ20s). a-d show the percentage of correct choices in 5 healthy control age groups (10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s), at different difficulty loads and with different combinations of learning time and delay span. (e-h) show the percentage of correct choices for 3 age groups in schizophrenia patients (SZ10s, SZ20s, SZ30s), under the same learning time and delay span conditions as the healthy control groups. Lt, learning time (0.5sec or 2sec); D, delay span (0.5sec or 2 sec).

7. Reaction time, schizophrenia groups (ms)
Supplementary Figure 5
Reaction time, control groups (ms)
load 2
load 3
load 4 a b c d e f g h
Reaction time, schizophrenia groups (ms)
Supplementary Fig 5. Healthy control and schizophrenia groups, showing reaction time. a-d shows the reaction time of 5 healthy control age groups, at different loads of difficulty with different combinations of learning time Lt and delay span D. e-f show the reaction time of 3 age groups in schizophrenia patients, matching the control group’s Lt and D conditions. Lt :Learning time; D: Delay span, error bar shows standard error.

8. Supplementary Figure 6 a b c d e f g h
Comparison of SZ10s and 10s, correct choices (%)
Normal
Schizophrenia a b c d e f g h
Comparison of SZ10s and 10s, reaction time
Supplementary Fig 6. Comparative results of SZ10s and 10s age groups. Percentage of correct choice is shown in a, b, c, d and reaction time is shown in e, f, g, h. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < ; error bar shows standard error.

9. Supplementary Figure 7 a b c d e f g h
SZ20s and 20s age groups, correct choice (%)
Normal
Schizophrenia a *
*** ** b c d *
*** * ** *
*** ** *
*** e * f g * h *
SZ20s and 20s age groups, reaction time (ms)
Supplementary Fig 7. Comparative results of SZ20s and 20s age groups. a-d show the percentage of correct choices of SZ20s and 20s age groups, at the different loads of difficulty with the combination of different learning time and delay span. e-h show the reaction time of SZ20s and 20s age groups, at different loads of difficulty with combinations of different learning time and delay span. * : p < 0.05; ** : p < 0.01; *** : p <

10. Supplementary Figure 8 a b c d e f g h
Comparison of SZ30s and 30s, correct choices (%)
Normal
Schizophrenia a * b * c * d * e
*** * f
*** ** g **
*** h
*** **
Comparison of SZ30s and 30s, reaction time
Supplementary Fig 8. Comparative results of SZ30s and 30s age groups. Percentage of correct choice is shown in a, b, c, d and reaction time is shown in e, f, g, h. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < ; error bar shows standard error.

11. Supplementary Figure 9 a c b**
*** *
*** b c **
***
***
Supplementary Fig 9. Various learning times, and delay spans for test design. In designing the test, we examined various learning times, and delay spans for health people group ages The first versions of the test needed to determine the most appropriate Lt and D to show differentiation between loads. Fig. 5a shows the variation of correct responses through difficulty loads two, three and four, presenting evidence that the design of the test can discriminate between difficulty loads. We found that D of up to 2 seconds had the same results as D of up to 5 seconds (Fig. 5b). The added time did not increase accuracy in responses, and so we shortened D in our test design to 2 seconds. We found that Lt shows the largest differences between loads when Lt has a value of between 0 and 2 seconds, and when Lt exceeds 2 seconds the test results for all loads of difficulty begin to converge toward higher percentage of correct response (Fig. 5c). Lt :Learning time; D: Delay span. error bar shows standard error.

12. Supplementary Table 3
Correct choices of different age groups in control (%)
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s
92.4±1.9
75.1±3.3
47.4±3.7
89.4±2.9
70.3±3.7
39.5±3.4
92.7±2.1
85.8±2.8
66.3±3.7
93.3±1.8
80.7±2.9
61.0±3.7
20s
97.6±0.9
91.2±1.4
67.6±3.5
97.6±0.8
90.5±1.9
58.8±3.8
98.3±0.7
94.9±1.5
84.8±2.3
98.6±0.6
93.2±1.7
81.1±2.8
30s
96.6±1.2
78.7±3.7
56.1±4.0
96.0±1.3
73.2±3.7
49.7±3.6
98.5±0.6
88.7±2.2
74.7±3.4
87.8±2.4
66.2±4.0
40s
96.1±1.1
77.5±3.0
55.4±2.4
97.1±0.9
78.9±2.6
43.9±3.6
87.9±2.2
60.4±3.1
96.4±1.0
84.6±2.3
56.4±3.5
50s
93.8±1.9
67.6±3.4
51.2±3.5
93.8±1.6
71.5±3.4
45.3±3.9
95.7±1.5
84.0±3.0
64.5±3.5
79.7±3.8
59.0±3.9
Comparative p value of correct choice between different age groups in control
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
20s vs 10s
0.0111
0.0002
<0.0001
0.001
0.0031
0.0061
0.0022
0.0008
20s vs 30s
0.6298
0.0043
0.0213
0.5191
0.0001
0.075
0.9303
0.065
0.0286
0.5349
0.144
0.0037
20s vs 40s
0.4637
0.0027
0.0185
0.8485
0.0133
0.0054
0.5511
0.0435
0.2239
0.0269
20s vs 50s
0.0764
0.0021
0.142
0.0136
0.1944
0.0024
0.0469
0.0007
Correct choices of different age groups in schizophrenia(%)
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ10s
93.8±2.4
77.1±4.2
45.3±5.4
91.1±2.5
72.4±4.7
41.1±5.0
97.4±1.3
82.8±3.3
67.2±4.4
96.4±1.6
85.4±3.9
61.5±5.8
SZ20s
87.5±3.8
66.1±6.2
42.2±5.4
86.5±2.7
66.7±5.6
37.0±5.2
93.8±2.1
84.4±3.4
64.6±5.1
93.8±2.3
79.7±4.2
46.9±4.6
SZ30s
89.6±4.2
72.9±4.3
40.1±5.0
85.4±4.0
70.3±5.2
37.5±4.5
93.8±3.2
81.8±3.4
62.0±4.5
91.7±3.1
76.6±3.6
55.2±4.1
Comparative p value of Correct choice between different age groups in schizophrenia
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ20s vs SZ10s
0.1395
0.1831
0.8264
0.1317
0.3927
0.6269
0.1683
0.9237
0.6258
0.8308
0.1781
0.0323
SZ20s vs SZ30s
0.8995
0.5295
0.4333
0.7309
0.9855
0.8664
0.8229
0.7008
0.6731
0.1195
0.4594
0.4174
Supplementary Table 1, Correct choice (%), various groups. Red indicates significant difference.

13. Supplementary Table 4
Reaction time of different age groups in control (ms)
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s
1240±76
1735±210
1710±111
1240±89
1638±151
1921±226
1406±128
1440±111
1680±125
1192±86
1473±88
1779±124
20s
1017±38
1234±45
1601±108
960±32
1227±56
1524±91
1013±36
1203±57
1414±68
1019±45
1251±79
1557±92
30s
1175±66
1473±105
1766±155
1092±50
1414±79
1643±108
1098±45
1301±58
1574±88
1085±35
1358±68
1619±99
40s
1227±58
1467±79
1640±82
1129±42
1462±72
1770±135
1195±58
1400±82
1647±106
1149±64
1450±75
1650±100
50s
1800±225
2358±231
2789±258
1887±224
2176±213
2837±274
1934±267
2225±238
2275±178
1806±198
2251±268
2576±236
Comparative p value of reaction time between different age groups in control
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
20s vs 10s
0.1193
0.0182
0.5961
0.0477
0.0175
0.1067
0.0247
0.1456
0.0965
0.188
0.1982
0.2268
20s vs 30s
0.2757
0.2624
0.4259
0.3498
0.2807
0.631
0.6256
0.5505
0.3222
0.6205
0.54
0.7387
20s vs 40s
0.1638
0.2929
0.859
0.2529
0.1944
0.341
0.3187
0.2494
0.1657
0.3442
0.2726
0.6297
20s vs 50s
<0.0001
Reaction time of different age groups in schizophrenia (ms)
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ10s
1260±69
1566±114
2034±202
1201±74
1501±107
2412±449
1223±62
1543±148
1833±132
1225±36
1463±101
1879±158
SZ20s
1526±118
1845±117
2377±214
1420±103
1688±149
2340±369
1294±92
1580±118
1666±108
1227±58
1723±157
1868±137
SZ30s
1843±152
2175±189
2782±293
1865±218
2103±183
2213±200
1734±149
1875±135
2303±284
1643±128
1919±112
2279±194
Comparative p value of reaction time between different age groups in schizophrenia
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
SZ20s vs SZ10s
0.0547
0.2565
0.2165
0.1813
0.3601
0.8511
0.6467
0.8258
0.4465
0.9865
0.1015
0.9573
SZ20s vs SZ30s
0.0223
0.1807
0.1453
0.0049
0.0431
0.7403
0.005
0.0766
0.0041
0.0005
0.2181
0.0523
Supplementary Table 4, Reaction time, various groups. Red indicates significant difference.

14. Supplementary Table 5
Comparative p value of correct choices in compatible age groups between control and schizophrenia
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s vs SZ10s
0.6903
0.7119
0.7422
0.6229
0.7246
0.7817
0.069
0.4542
0.8706
0.2123
0.2785
0.9444
20s vs SZ20s
0.003
<0.0001
0.0001
0.002
0.0003
0.0836
0.0097
0.0005
0.0546
0.0027
30s vs SZ30s
0.0336
0.2993
0.0127
0.0028
0.6231
0.0429
0.0647
0.0786
0.0233
0.0173
0.0101
0.0696
Comparative p value of reaction time in compatible age groups between control and schizophrenia
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
load 2
load 3
load 4
10s vsSZ10s
0.8707
0.1377
0.1876
0.8328
0.4462
0.1492
0.183
0.4847
0.431
0.7472
0.9421
0.5915
20s vs SZ20s
<0.0001
0.0067
0.0024
0.0014
0.0136
0.0203
0.0465
0.0134
0.208
0.0539
0.0012
0.1061
30s vs SZ30s
0.0015
0.0002
0.0976
0.0001
0.0003
0.0005
Supplementary Table 5, Comparison between schizophrenia and control groups, p value. Red indicates significant difference.

15. Demographic information
Supplementary Table 6
Demographic information
10s
20s
30s
SZ10s
SZ20s
SZ30s
No. of participants 43 37 41 24
Female (%)
46.51%
51.35%
48.78%
54.17%
50.00%
Male (%)
53.49%
48.65%
51.22%
45.83%
Age
14.2±0.1
23.8±0.2
33.7±0.5
15.8±0.2
25.0±0.5
35.9±0.6
Education years
7.2±0.1
16.2±0.1
16.4±0.2
8.3±0.4
12.1±0.5
12.3±0.6
Age of onset NA
14.9±0.3
19.8±0.8
25.9±1.4
Course of disease
1.2±0.2
5.3±0.9
10.1±1.5
The first onset (%)
70.83%
33.33%
20.80%
Supplementary Table 6, demographic information of patients and their counterparts.

16. Supplementary Table 7
P value in comparison of accuracy per second male and female in different age groups
Lt 0.5s D 0.5s
Lt 0.5s D 2s
Lt 2s D 0.5s
Lt 2s D 2s
level 2
level 3
level 4
10s
0.0249
0.4143
0.4347
0.6145
0.8617
0.4775
0.2758
0.2516
0.7220
0.0797
0.6655
0.5859
20s
0.7381
0.7547
0.4556
0.6075
0.9892
0.4107
0.2115
0.5768
0.4865
0.2880
0.8327
0.8103
30s
0.5595
0.8233
0.4685
0.869
0.9094
0.353
0.2178
0.0901
0.6976
0.7600
0.8365
0.2199
40s
0.4646
0.8704
0.4900
0.6643
0.1474
0.4869
0.7740
0.3781
0.2884
0.3348
0.8389
0.6135
50s
0.1344
0.5870
0.6832
0.2722
0.6180
0.2348
0.2737
0.4525
0.9279
0.1450
0.3796
0.6330
SZ10s
0.7819
0.9747
0.5996
0.3390
0.3546
0.776
0.8794
0.9940
0.3020
0.2703
0.5002
0.1353
SZ20s
0.5246
0.9628
0.9470
0.2205
0.9060
0.9107
0.3194
0.6249
0.4250
0.3893
0.8653
0.6337
SZ30s
0.2362
0.5061
0.3944
0.3780
0.3559
0.7123
0.3557
0.0967
0.1543
0.3804
0.2351
0.6364
Supplementary Table 7, Comparison between male and female of all the tested age group, p value. Red indicates significant difference.