title: Crowding, grouping, and gain control in schizophrenia.
abstract: Visual paradigms are versatile tools to investigate the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Contextual modulation refers to a class of paradigms where a target is flanked by neighbouring elements, which either deteriorate or facilitate target perception. It is often proposed that contextual modulation is weakened in schizophrenia compared to controls, with facilitating contexts being less facilitating and deteriorating contexts being less deteriorating. However, results are mixed. In addition, facilitating and deteriorating effects are usually determined in different paradigms, making comparisons difficult. Here, we used a crowding paradigm in which both facilitation and deterioration effects can be determined all together. We found a main effect of group, i.e., patients performed worse in all conditions compared to controls. However, when we discounted for this main effect, facilitation and deterioration were well comparable to controls. Our results indicate that contextual modulation can be intact in schizophrenia patients.
authors: Vision Research Laboratory, Beritashvili Centre of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia; Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia.
authors: Maya
authors: M
authors: Roinishvili
authors: Université de Toulouse-UPS, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Toulouse, France; Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Céline
authors: C
authors: Cappe
authors: Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: albulena.shaqiri@epfl.ch.
authors: Albulena
authors: A
authors: Shaqiri
authors: Institute for Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Brand
authors: Institute for Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Rürup
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia; Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
authors: Eka
authors: E
authors: Chkonia
authors: Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Michael H
authors: MH
authors: Herzog
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Contextual modulation; Crowding; Gain control; Grouping; Schizophrenia