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Frequency-domain analysis of transient visual evoked potentials in schizophrenia

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Abstract

Purpose

Frequency-domain measures were applied to characterize neural deficits in individuals with schizophrenia using transient visual evoked potentials (tVEP). These measures were compared with conventional time-domain measures to elucidate underlying neurophysiological mechanisms and examine the value of frequency analysis.

Methods

Four frequency bands of activity identified in previous work were explored with respect to magnitude (spectral power), timing (phase), a combined measure, magnitude-squared coherence (MSC), and compared to amplitudes and times of prominent deflections in the response.

Results

Band 2 power/MSC (14–28 Hz) captured the major deflections in the waveform and its power predicted N75-P100 amplitude for patients and controls. Band 3 power/MSC (30–40 Hz) correlated highly with the earliest deflection (P60-N75), reflecting input to primary visual cortex (V1) and produced the largest magnitude effect. Phase of the 24th harmonic component predicted P100 peak time for patients and controls and yielded the largest group difference. Cluster analyses including time- and frequency-domain measures identified subgroups of patients with differential neurophysiological effects. A small but significant difference in visual acuity was found between groups that appears to be neurally based: Acuity (range 0.63–1.6) was not correlated with any tVEP measures in controls nor with input timing to V1 (P60 peak time) in patients, but was correlated with later tVEP measures in patients. All but two of the patients were on antipsychotic medication: Medication level (chlorpromazine equivalents) was correlated negatively with tVEP time measures and positively with certain magnitude measures yielding responses similar to controls at high levels.

Conclusions

Overall, frequency-domain measures were shown to be objective and recommended as an alternative to conventional, subjective time-domain measures for analyzing tVEPs and in distinguishing between groups (patients vs. controls and patient subgroups). The findings implicated a loss of excitatory input to V1 in schizophrenia. Acuity as measured in the current study reflected disease status, and medication level was associated with improved tVEP responses. These novel tVEP techniques may be useful in revealing neurophysiological processes affected in schizophrenia and as a clinical tool.

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Data availability

Data used in this study will be made available upon request.

Notes

  1. Neucodia system is currently marketed as EvokeDx, Konan Medical, USA.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Gail Silipo for her tireless work as the coordinator for this study, and we are grateful to all those who participated in this study. We acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (R43MH083364).

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Author notes

  1. Yu-Ting Tsai

    Present address: Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 11696, Taiwan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Yu-Ting Tsai & Vance Zemon

  2. Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Rd., Orangeburg, NY, 10962, USA

    Yu-Ting Tsai, Pamela Butler & Vance Zemon

  3. Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Ave., New York, NY, 10065, USA

    James Gordon

  4. Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, One Park Ave., New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Pamela Butler

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  1. Yu-Ting Tsai
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  4. Vance Zemon
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Contributions

Y-TT, VZ, JG, and PB designed the study, analyzed the data, interpreted the results, and wrote the manuscript. PB supervised VEP data collection.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vance Zemon.

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Conflict of interest

Zemon is a principal in and Gordon is a consultant for VeriSci Corp., a company that manufactured the Neucodia system used for the experiments conducted in this study. These two authors are shareholders in this company, which has a licensing agreement with Konan Medical USA. Tsai and Butler have no interests to declare.

Ethics approval

The protocol for this study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and Rockland Psychiatric Center.

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All participants gave their written informed consent.

Statement of human rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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There were no animals involved in this research.

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Tsai, YT., Gordon, J., Butler, P. et al. Frequency-domain analysis of transient visual evoked potentials in schizophrenia. Doc Ophthalmol 146, 211–227 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10633-023-09921-2

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