title: Neuropsychological correlates of an attention-related negative component elicited in an auditory oddball paradigm in schizophrenia.
abstract: An attention-related, negative component can be detected between the N100 peak and 200 ms after stimulus by subtracting event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited to background tones when subjects ignore tones, from ERPs elicited to background tones when subjects attend to tones to detect target tones in an oddball paradigm. To clarify the cognitive significance of this component in schizophrenia, we examined the correlations of 24 patients between the amplitude and latency of the negative component and results obtained using neuropsychological measurement methods, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Trail Making Test, the Verbal Fluency Test and some subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale. The latency prolongation of the negative component correlated positively with the difference in performance time between parts A and B of the Trail Making Test, which estimates set shift, a frontal-lobe executive function, but not with any other neuropsychological measurements, while the amplitude showed no such correlation. These results suggest that the latency prolongation of the attention-related, negative component induced in an auditory oddball paradigm may serve as an index for frontal dysfunction in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920-8641, Japan. mtohma@med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashima
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsukada
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Komai
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koshino
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004585:Electrooculography / Q000379:methods; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014888:Wechsler Scales