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Visual masking deficits in schizophrenia: a view into the genetics of the disease through an endophenotype. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:529. [PMID: 36585402 PMCID: PMC9803632 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02275-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder determined by a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors. To better understand the contributions of human genetic variations to schizophrenia, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of a highly sensitive endophenotype. In this visual masking endophenotype, two vertical bars, slightly shifted in the horizontal direction, are briefly presented (vernier offset). Participants are asked to indicate the offset direction of the bars (either left or right). The bars are followed by a grating mask, which makes the task both spatially and temporally challenging. The inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between the vernier and the mask was determined in 206 patients with schizophrenia, 109 first-order relatives, and 143 controls. Usually, in GWAS studies, patients are compared to controls (i.e., a binary task) without considering the large differences in performance between patients and controls, as it occurs in many paradigms. The masking task allows for a particularly powerful analysis because the differences in ISI within the patient population are large. We genotyped all participants and searched for associations between human polymorphisms and the masking endophenotype using a linear mixed model. We did not identify any genome-wide significant associations (p < 5 × 10-8), indicating that common variants with strong effects are unlikely to contribute to the large inter-group differences in visual masking. However, we found significant differences in polygenetic risk scores (PRS) between patients and controls, and relatives and controls.
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da Cruz JR, Shaqiri A, Roinishvili M, Favrod O, Chkonia E, Brand A, Figueiredo P, Herzog MH. Neural Compensation Mechanisms of Siblings of Schizophrenia Patients as Revealed by High-Density EEG. Schizophr Bull 2020; 46:1009-1018. [PMID: 31961928 PMCID: PMC7345810 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Visual backward masking (VBM) deficits are candidate endophenotypes of schizophrenia indexing genetic liability of the disorder. In VBM, a target is followed by a mask that deteriorates target perception. Schizophrenia patients and, to a lesser extent, their unaffected relatives show strong and reproducible VBM deficits. In patients, VBM deficits are associated with strongly decreased amplitudes in the evoked-related potentials (ERPs). Here, to unveil the neural mechanisms of VBM in schizophrenia, circumventing illness-specific confounds, we investigated the electroencephalogram correlates of VBM in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients. We tested 110 schizophrenia patients, 60 siblings, and 83 healthy controls. As in previous studies, patients showed strong behavioral deficits and decreased ERP amplitudes compared to controls. Surprisingly, the ERP amplitudes of siblings were even higher than the ones of controls, while their performances were similar. ERP amplitudes in siblings were found to correlate with performance. These results suggest that VBM is deteriorated in patients and siblings. However, siblings, unlike patients, can partially compensate for the deficits by over-activating a network of brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janir R da Cruz
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland,Institute for Systems and Robotics – Lisbon (LARSyS) and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal,To whom correspondence should be addressed; CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; tel: +41 21 693 17 42, fax: +41 21 693 1749, e-mail:
| | - Albulena Shaqiri
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Maya Roinishvili
- Laboratory of Vision Physiology, Beritashvili Centre of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia,Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Free University of Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Ophélie Favrod
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Eka Chkonia
- Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Free University of Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia,Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Andreas Brand
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Patrícia Figueiredo
- Institute for Systems and Robotics – Lisbon (LARSyS) and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Favrod O, da Cruz JR, Roinishvili M, Berdzenishvili E, Brand A, Figueiredo P, Herzog MH, Chkonia E. Electrophysiological correlates of visual backward masking in patients with major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2019; 294:111004. [PMID: 31704371 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.111004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Revised: 10/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Depression and schizophrenia are two psychiatric diseases with high co-morbidity. For this reason, it is important to find sensitive endophenotypes, which may disentangle the two disorders. The Shine-Through paradigm, a visual backward masking task, is a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. Masking is strongly deteriorated in schizophrenia patients, which is reflected in reduced EEG amplitudes. Here, we tested whether masking deficits and associated EEG changes are also found in patients with major depressive disorder. First, we replicated previous findings showing that depressive patients exhibit, at most, only weak masking deficits. Second, we found that the EEG amplitudes of depressive patients were reduced compared to controls and slightly increased compared to schizophrenia patients. As a secondary analysis, we compared the performance in the masking paradigm with three cognitive tasks, namely: the Wisconsin card sorting test, a verbal fluency test and a degraded continuous performance test. Performance in all but the verbal fluency test could discriminate schizophrenia from depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ophélie Favrod
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.
| | - Janir R da Cruz
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland; Institute for Systems and Robotics - Lisboa, Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Maya Roinishvili
- Laboratory of Vision Physiology, Beritashvili Centre of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia; Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | | | - Andreas Brand
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
| | - Patrícia Figueiredo
- Institute for Systems and Robotics - Lisboa, Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
| | - Eka Chkonia
- Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia; Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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Fernandes TP, Shaqiri A, Brand A, Nogueira RL, Herzog MH, Roinishvili M, Santos NA, Chkonia E. Schizophrenia patients using atypical medication perform better in visual tasks than patients using typical medication. Psychiatry Res 2019; 275:31-38. [PMID: 30878854 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2018] [Revised: 03/05/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCZ) patients show deficits in many domains, including cognition and perception. However, results are often mixed. One reason for mixed results may be differences in medication. Very little is known about the role of medication in visual processing. Here, we investigated the effects of typical vs. atypical medication on contrast sensitivity (spatial frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 20 cycles per degree), vernier acuity, and visual backward masking. From a large pool of patients, we selected 50 patients (Study 1, conducted in Brazil) and 97 patients (Study 2, conducted in Georgia) taking either only typical or atypical medication. Patients with atypical medication performed significantly better than patients with typical medication for contrast sensitivity, vernier duration, and backward masking. As a secondary result, we found similar, but not significant, trends for the cognitive tasks (Stroop, Flanker, Trail-Making Test-B, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Continuous Performance Test) in the same patients. No correlations were found between demographics, psychopathology, chlorpromazine equivalents and visual processing. A conclusion of our study is that one needs to be careful comparing studies when medication is not comparable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago P Fernandes
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Albulena Shaqiri
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 19, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Andreas Brand
- Institute for Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | | | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 19, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Maya Roinishvili
- Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia; Department of Behaviour and Cognitive Functions, I. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Natanael A Santos
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Eka Chkonia
- Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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Shaqiri A, Roinishvili M, Grzeczkowski L, Chkonia E, Pilz K, Mohr C, Brand A, Kunchulia M, Herzog MH. Sex-related differences in vision are heterogeneous. Sci Rep 2018; 8:7521. [PMID: 29760400 PMCID: PMC5951855 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25298-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite well-established sex differences for cognition, audition, and somatosensation, few studies have investigated whether there are also sex differences in visual perception. We report the results of fifteen perceptual measures (such as visual acuity, visual backward masking, contrast detection threshold or motion detection) for a cohort of over 800 participants. On six of the fifteen tests, males significantly outperformed females. On no test did females significantly outperform males. Given this heterogeneity of the sex effects, it is unlikely that the sex differences are due to any single mechanism. A practical consequence of the results is that it is important to control for sex in vision research, and that findings of sex differences for cognitive measures using visually based tasks should confirm that their results cannot be explained by baseline sex differences in visual perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albulena Shaqiri
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Maya Roinishvili
- Laboratory of Vision Physiology, Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia.,Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Free University of Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | | | - Eka Chkonia
- Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Free University of Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia.,Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Karin Pilz
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Bâtiment Geopolis, Quartier Mouline, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Brand
- Institute for Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Marina Kunchulia
- Laboratory of Vision Physiology, Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, Tbilisi, Georgia.,Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, Free University of Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Michael H Herzog
- Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Fernandes TMP, de Andrade MJO, Santana JB, Nogueira RMTBL, dos Santos NA. Tobacco Use Decreases Visual Sensitivity in Schizophrenia. Front Psychol 2018; 9:288. [PMID: 29559947 PMCID: PMC5845747 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2017] [Accepted: 02/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Smoking prevalence in patients who are diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ) is higher than in the general population. Chronic tobacco use in SCZ patients may reduce the side effects of antipsychotic drugs, thus serving as a self-medication for such side effects. Understanding the ways in which chronic tobacco use influences visual sensitivity has clinical implications, which may serve as a tool for non-invasively diagnosing early-stage visual processing deficits. The present study evaluated the effects of chronic tobacco use on visual sensitivity in SCZ patients. Our purpose was to provide new directions for future research, mainly psychophysical and electrophysiological studies. In the present study, 40 smoker controls (SC), 20 SCZ tobacco users, and 20 SCZ tobacco nonusers were recruited from the Psychosocial Care Center. Visual sensitivity was compared between both SCZ groups and the SC group. Patients with SCZ who were chronic tobacco users presented lower visual sensitivity for chromatic (p < 0.001) and achromatic (p < 0.001) stimuli compared with the other groups. Our findings highlight the need to evaluate possible addictive behavior in patients with SCZ, which may contribute to public policies that seek to improve the quality of life of SCZ patients and their families.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago M. P. Fernandes
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Michael J. Oliveira de Andrade
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Jessica B. Santana
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
| | | | - Natanael A. dos Santos
- Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
- Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil
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Electrophysiological correlates of visual backward masking in high schizotypic personality traits participants. Psychiatry Res 2017; 254:251-257. [PMID: 28477548 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.04.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2016] [Revised: 03/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/23/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Visual backward masking is strongly deteriorated in patients with schizophrenia. Masking deficits are associated with strongly reduced amplitudes of the global field power in the EEG. Healthy participants who scored high in cognitive disorganization (a schizotypic trait) were impaired in backward masking compared to participants who scored low. Here, we show that the global field power is also reduced in healthy participants scoring high (n=25) as compared to low (n=20) in cognitive disorganization, though quantitatively less pronounced than in patients (n=10). These results point to similar mechanisms underlying visual backward masking deficits along the schizophrenia spectrum.
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