title: Movement-related potentials point towards an impaired tuning of reafferent sensory feedback by preceding motor activation in schizophrenia.
abstract: The link between focal motor system activation and reafferent sensory feedback is thought to be crucial for the perception that a movement is actively performed. In this article, we examine how schizophrenia affects the relationship between motor and somatosensory system activation. Movement-related potential source analysis allowed us to separate and compare motor activation deficits and reafferent feedback processing. We analyzed lateralized movement-related potentials during choice reaction movements in 16 subjects with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. These subjects had partial remissions with predominantly negative symptoms and were compared to an age-matched healthy control group. In the schizophrenia/schizoaffective group, dipole source analysis indicated a significantly reduced lateralized sensorimotor activation immediately preceding movement execution. In contrast, activation by reafferent feedback was relatively unimpaired. Subjects with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder lacked a focal motor and reafferent sensory processing correlation, which can be identified through a significantly different regression slope from healthy controls. Reduced action-related motor system activation in subjects with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder was associated with preserved activation by reafferent sensory feedback. Most importantly, motor-sensory tuning, i.e. a specific enhancement of sensory information necessary to monitor movements, could not be found in subjects with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. Our data provide further evidence for disturbed motor-sensory interactions in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: University of Heidelberg, Voßstraße 4, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. Stephan.Bender@uniklinikum-dresden.de
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schröder
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freitag
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roessner
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Resch
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weisbrod
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires