title: Cross-diagnostic comparison of visual processing in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
abstract: Patients with Schizophrenia (SZ) show deficits across various stages of visual information processing. Whether patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) exhibit these deficits is unclear. In this study, we conducted a detailed comparison of specific stages of early visual perception in BD and SZ. Forty-three BD patients, 43 SZ patients, and 51 matched healthy control subjects (HC) were administered three visual processing paradigms emphasizing: 1) an early stage of object formation (location backward masking), 2) a middle stage of object substitution (four-dot backward masking), and 3) a later stage at the perception-attention interface (rapid serial visual processing (RSVP) task eliciting the attentional blink). SZ performed significantly worse than BD and HC on location and four-dot masking. BD did not significantly differ from HC on either masking task. Both patient groups performed significantly worse than HC on the RSVP task; unlike SZ, BD did not show a significant attentional blink effect compared to HC. Our results indicate that BD patients were intact at the early and middle stages of visual processing (object formation and substitution) but intermediate between the SZ and HC groups at a later processing stage involving perceptual and attentional processes (RSVP task). These findings suggest that SZ is characterized by a diffuse pathophysiology affecting all stages of visual processing whereas in BD disruption is only at the latest stage involving higher order attentional functions.
authors.affiliation: Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: carol.jahshan@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jahshan
authors.affiliation: Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCleery
authors.affiliation: Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Glahn
authors.affiliation: Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lori L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Altshuler
authors.affiliation: Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Attentional blink; Bipolar disorder; Masking; Perception; Schizophrenia; Visual processing