Positive symptoms and duration of illness predict functional laterality and attention modulation in schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
Dichotic listening (DL) performance in schizophrenia, reflecting hemispheric asymmetry and the functional integrity of the left temporal lobe, can vary with clinical characteristics. Previous studies have not taken the co-linearity of clinical variables into account. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the roles of positive symptoms and duration of illness in DL through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), thus allowing for complex relationships between the variables.


METHODS
We pooled patients from four previous DL studies to create a heterogeneous group of 129 schizophrenic patients, all tested with a consonant-vowel syllables DL procedure that included attentional instructions.


RESULTS
A model where positive symptoms predicted a laterality component and duration of illness predicted an attention component in DL was confirmed.


CONCLUSIONS
Positive symptoms predicted reduced functional laterality, suggesting involvement of left temporal lobe language processing. Duration of illness predicted impaired attention modulation, possibly reflecting the involvement of frontotemporal networks.
Løberg
E-M
EM
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. else.marie.loeberg@psych.uib.no
Jørgensen
H A
HA
Green
M F
MF
Rund
B R
BR
Lund
A
A
Diseth
A
A
Oie
M
M
Hugdahl
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology