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Decreased spectral entropy modulation in patients with schizophrenia during a P300 task

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Abstract

Spectral entropy (SE), also known as Shannon entropy, is a useful parameter for quantifying the global regularity of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal. Hence, it is of interest in the assessment of the electrophysiological correlates of cognitive processing in schizophrenia. However, to date, SE has been barely used in studies comparing resting EEG recordings between patients and controls. In this work, we compared SE between resting baseline [−250 0] ms and active task [150 550] ms windows of a P300 task in 31 patients with schizophrenia and 38 controls. Moreover, we also calculated the median frequency (MF) and relative power in each frequency band for these windows to assess the correlates of the possible SE differences. Controls showed a significant (p < 0.0029) SE decrease (i.e., meaning higher signal regularity) from baseline to the active task window at parietal and central electrode sites. This SE decrease from baseline to active conditions was significantly lower in patients. In controls, this SE decrease was accompanied by a statistically significant decrease in MF (i.e., a significant slowing of the EEG activity), not observed in patients. In this latter group, the difference in SE between resting baseline and active task windows was inversely correlated to positive and total symptoms scores, as measured with the positive and negative symptoms scale. Our data support the relevance of SE in the study of cerebral processing in schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported in part by: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and FEDER under project TEC2011-22987 and by the “Project Cero 2011 on Ageing” from Fundación General CSIC, Obra Social La Caixa and CSIC; Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (Instituto de Salud Carlos III) (FIS PI1102203) and the Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León (GRS 613/A/11) grants; a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship within the 7th European Commission Framework Programme (330156-CODIP) to A. Díez; a predoctoral scholarship from the University of Salamanca and Santander Bank to V. Suazo; and a PIF-UVA grant from the University of Valladolid to A. Bachiller.

Conflict of interest

All authors have approved the final manuscript. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering Group, Department T.S.C.I.T., E.T.S. Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, University of Valladolid, Paseo Belén, 15, CP 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Alejandro Bachiller, Roberto Hornero & Jesús Poza

  2. Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67-73 Riding House Street, London, W1W 7EJ, UK

    Alvaro Díez

  3. Neuroscience Institute of Castilla y León, University of Salamanca, Calle Pintor Fernando Gallego, 1, CP 37007, Salamanca, Spain

    Vanessa Suazo

  4. Institute of Biomedical Research (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain

    Vanessa Suazo, Roberto Hornero, Jesús Poza & Vicente Molina

  5. Psychiatry Service, University Hospital of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Cristina Domínguez & Vicente Molina

  6. Neurophysiology Service, University Hospital of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Marta Ayuso

  7. Instituto de Investigación en Matemáticas (IMUVA), University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Roberto Hornero & Jesús Poza

  8. Psychiatry Department, School of Medicine, University of Valladolid, Avenida de Ramón y Cajal, 7, CP 47005, Valladolid, Spain

    Vicente Molina

Authors
  1. Alejandro Bachiller
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  2. Alvaro Díez
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  4. Cristina Domínguez
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  6. Roberto Hornero
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  8. Vicente Molina
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Correspondence to Vicente Molina.

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Bachiller, A., Díez, A., Suazo, V. et al. Decreased spectral entropy modulation in patients with schizophrenia during a P300 task. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 264, 533–543 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0488-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0488-6

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