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Visual sensory processing deficits in Schizophrenia and their relationship to disease state

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Abstract

Context

Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) abnormalities have been a fairly consistent finding in patients with schizophrenia, and it has been suggested that electrophysiological markers of early sensory processing may be useful as trait markers for the illness, and for development as potential diagnostic measures.

Objective

Clear amplitude reductions in the occipital P1 component of the VEP (~100 ms), have been repeatedly demonstrated in patients with schizophrenia. Here, we investigated whether the extent of this deficit was related to age, clinical symptoms, medication status and length of illness, in a large cohort of ethnically homogenous patients.

Design, setting and participants

VEP responses to simple isolated-check stimuli were examined in 52 DSM-IV diagnosed patients with schizophrenia, and compared with responses from 26 healthy age-matched control subjects. Using high-density electrical scalp recordings, we assessed the integrity of the visual P1 component across the two groups. This study was conducted at St.Vincent’s Psychiatric Hospital in Fairview, Dublin, Ireland.

Results

Substantially reduced P1 amplitude was demonstrated in the patient group compared to controls. The deficit was not linked to age, length of illness or medication status. A small positive correlation, accounting for about 11% of the variance, was found between P1 amplitude and clinical symptoms scales (BPRS and SANS). In addition, we found that a slightly later (~110 ms) fronto-central component was relatively increased in the patient group, and was inversely correlated with the occipital P1 amplitude in the patients, but not in the healthy control subjects.

Conclusions

Our findings clearly demonstrate a deficit in early visual processing in patients with schizophrenia (with a large effect size; Cohen’s d = 0.7) that is unrelated to chronicity. The results are consistent with recent findings showing that the P1 deficit is endophenotypic of the disorder and related to genetic risk factors rather than the disease process itself.

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Notes

  1. The reader may note that an earlier difference at ~50 ms over fronto-central sites also reaches significance in the statistical cluster plot. As this effect was unpredicted and not observed in any previous studies, we are inclined not to conjecture on its significance until such time as it is replicated

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Chief Executive Officer at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Mr. Edward Byrne and to the Director of Nursing, Mrs. Phil Burke, for their ongoing and essential support of the Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory. Thanks also go to Micheál Mac an tSionnaigh for his help in establishing and maintaining the laboratory, and to the nursing staff at St. Vincent’s hospital for their dedication to the patients and their ongoing support of this work. Grant Support: This work was supported in part by an RO1 grant from the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to Professor Foxe (MH65350). Dr. Yeap was supported by a fellowship from the Irish Health Research Board (HRB). Dr. Magno was supported by a fellowship from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Richmond Road, Fairview, Dublin 3, Ireland

    Sherlyn Yeap MRCPsych, Simon P. Kelly PhD, Pejman Sehatpour MD, PhD, Elena Magno PhD, Hugh Garavan PhD, Jogin H. Thakore MD, PhD & John J. Foxe PhD

  2. The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Program in Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY, 10962, USA

    Sherlyn Yeap MRCPsych, Simon P. Kelly PhD, Pejman Sehatpour MD, PhD & John J. Foxe PhD

  3. Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Elena Magno PhD, Hugh Garavan PhD, Jogin H. Thakore MD, PhD & John J. Foxe PhD

  4. Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, City College of the City University of New York, 138th Street & Convent Avenue, New York, NY, 10031, USA

    John J. Foxe PhD

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  1. Sherlyn Yeap MRCPsych
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Correspondence to John J. Foxe PhD.

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Yeap, S., Kelly, S.P., Sehatpour, P. et al. Visual sensory processing deficits in Schizophrenia and their relationship to disease state. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosc 258, 305–316 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-008-0802-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-008-0802-2

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