Is gamma band EEG synchronization reduced during auditory driving in schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations?
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in schizophrenia patients assumingly result from a state inadequate activation of the primary auditory system. We tested brain responsiveness to auditory stimulation in healthy controls (n=26), and in schizophrenia patients that frequently (n=18) or never (n=11) experienced AVH. Responsiveness was assessed by driving the EEG with click-tones at 20, 30 and 40Hz. We compared stimulus induced EEG changes between groups using spectral amplitude maps and a global measure of phase-locking (GFS). As expected, the 40Hz stimulation elicited the strongest changes. However, while controls and non-hallucinators increased 40Hz EEG activity during stimulation, a left-lateralized decrease was observed in the hallucinators. These differences were significant (p=.02). As expected, GFS increased during stimulation in controls (p=.08) and non-hallucinating patients (p=.06), which was significant when combining the two groups (p=.01). In contrast, GFS decreased with stimulation in hallucinating patients (p=0.13), resulting in a significantly different GFS response when comparing subjects with and without AVH (p<.01). Our data suggests that normally, 40Hz stimulation leads to the activation of a synchronized network representing the sensory input, but in hallucinating patients, the same stimulation partly disrupts ongoing activity in this network.
Department of Psychiatric Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, Switzerland. thomas.koenig@puk.unibe.ch
Thomas
T
Koenig
Claudia
C
van Swam
Thomas
T
Dierks
Daniela
D
Hubl
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D058407:Electroencephalography Phase Synchronization / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D055815:Young Adult