title: Neural correlates of the abolished self-referential memory effect in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The self-referential memory (SRM) effect refers to the phenomenon that stimuli processed with reference to the self are better remembered than those referenced to others. Studies have shown that schizophrenia patients do not have this memorial advantage for self-referenced information. The current study investigated the electrophysiological mechanism of the abolished SRM effect in schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty schizophrenia patients and 22 controls were recruited to complete an SRM task. We used a high-time resolution event-related potential (ERP) technique to analyze the electrophysiological differences between patients and controls during self- and other-reflection processing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Behavior data indicated that healthy controls had a typical SRM bias that was absent in the schizophrenia patients. ERP comparison between groups showed that the schizophrenia patients presented smaller voltages in both self- and other-reflection conditions in the 160-260 ms (P2 component) and 800-1200 ms (positive slow wave) time windows over the pre/frontal cortex. Furthermore, the N2 amplitudes (270-380 ms) differed between self- and other-reflection conditions in patients but not in normal controls. More importantly, we found that the P3 amplitudes in the parietal cortex correlated significantly with the SRM bias score in the patients (r = -0.688).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide comprehensive and direct electrophysiological evidence for self- and other-reflective dysfunction in schizophrenia patients and contribute to our understanding of the underlying neural substrates of the abolished SRM effect in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, China.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Research, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult