A neurophysiological deficit in early visual processing in schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations.
Existing 67-channel event-related potentials, obtained during recognition and working memory paradigms with words or faces, were used to examine early visual processing in schizophrenia patients prone to auditory hallucinations (AH, n = 26) or not (NH, n = 49) and healthy controls (HC, n = 46). Current source density (CSD) transforms revealed distinct, strongly left- (words) or right-lateralized (faces; N170) inferior-temporal N1 sinks (150 ms) in each group. N1 was quantified by temporal PCA of peak-adjusted CSDs. For words and faces in both paradigms, N1 was substantially reduced in AH compared with NH and HC, who did not differ from each other. The difference in N1 between AH and NH was not due to overall symptom severity or performance accuracy, with both groups showing comparable memory deficits. Our findings extend prior reports of reduced auditory N1 in AH, suggesting a broader early perceptual integration deficit that is not limited to the auditory modality.
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA. kayserj@nyspi.columbia.edu
Jürgen
J
Kayser
Craig E
CE
Tenke
Christopher J
CJ
Kroppmann
Daniel M
DM
Alschuler
Shiva
S
Fekri
Roberto
R
Gil
L Fredrik
LF
Jarskog
Jill M
JM
Harkavy-Friedman
Gerard E
GE
Bruder
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*