title: Early visual information processing deficit in depression with and without Borderline Personality Disorder.
abstract: Backward masking is a measure of early visual information processing usually abnormal in psychotic disorders. Previous studies of subjects with Borderline Personality Disorder have been inconsistent regarding their impairment or lack of impairment on backward masking. We examined visual backward masking performance in samples of unmedicated depressed patients with (n=12) and without (n=16) Borderline Personality Disorder, and healthy volunteers (n=18). Accuracy was poorer in depressed BPD patients, relative to both non-BPD depressed and healthy comparison subjects. As in previous studies, no differences in accuracy were found between non-BPD depressed patients and healthy comparison subjects. Differences in BPD subjects' accuracy were most evident at the fastest ISI and were not attributable to intercurrent psychotic symptoms. Beyond these group differences, accuracy at faster ISI's correlated with self-ratings of impulsiveness in all patients, and may be a general correlate of this trait. Poor early information processing appears to be a feature of Borderline Personality Disorder, and may play a role in the impulsive behavior that is characteristic of the disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University Medical College and New York State Psychiatric Institute, Box 42, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA. johnkeil@neuron.cpmc.columbia.edu
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Keilp
authors.forename: H Marie
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Klain
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brodsky
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Oquendo
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorlyn
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: J John
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003710:Demography; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D014796:Visual Perception; D014888:Wechsler Scales