title: Neurocognitive impairment on motor imagery associated with positive symptoms in patients with first-episode schizophrenia: evidence from event-related brain potentials.
abstract: Motor imagery provides direct insight into an anatomically interconnected system involved in the integration of sensory information with motor actions, a process that is associated with positive symptoms in schizophrenia (SCZ). However, very little is known about the electrophysiological processing of motor imagery in first episode SCZ. In the current study, we used a visual hand mental rotation (MR) paradigm to manipulate the processing of motor imagery while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 42 SCZ participants and 40 healthy controls (HC). The 400-600 ms window was measured and analyzed for peak latencies and amplitudes. Participants with SCZ had slower reaction time (RT) and made more errors than did HC participants. Moreover, SCZ participants had lower amplitudes in the 400-600 ms window and the typical MR function for amplitudes of MR was lacking. Interestingly, the scalp activity maps for MR in SCZ exhibited an absence of activation in the left parietal site as shown in HC. Furthermore, deficits of amplitude for MR were positively correlated with positive symptom scores in SCZ. These results provide novel evidence for relationships between the electrophysiological processing of motor imagery and positive symptoms in SCZ. They further suggest that the impaired information processing of motor imagery indexed by amplitudes and specific topographic characteristics of the EEG during MR tasks may be a potentially useful and early defining biomarker for SCZ.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China; Neurologic Department of Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital, Neuropsychiatric Institute and Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Dunhong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Laiqi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Xingqu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Qinghai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Haun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Guangxiong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Zihe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Disease Control and Prevention, Third Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Baoji 721004, Shaanxi Province, PR China. Electronic address: yanglaiqi6666@163.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Neurologic Department of Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital, Neuropsychiatric Institute and Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, PR China. Electronic address: janemengzhang@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Zhijun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP mapping; Event-related potentials; Motor imagery; Positive symptoms; Schizophrenia patients (SCZ)