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Basanovic J, Myles O, MacLeod C. Do the eyes have it? A comparison of eye-movement and attentional-probe-based approaches to indexing attentional control within the antisaccade paradigm. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:221-230. [PMID: 35187988 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221083556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Individual differences in the ability to control visual attention, often termed "attentional control," have been of particular interest to cognitive researchers. This has led to the development of numerous tasks intended to measure attentional control, including the antisaccade task. While attentional performance on the antisaccade task is typically indexed through the recording of eye movements, increasingly researchers are reporting the use of probe-based methods of indexing attentional performance on the task. Critically, no research has yet determined the convergence of measures yielded by each of these assessment methods, nor compared the reliability of these measures. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether antisaccade cost measures yielded by a probe-based adaptation of the task converge with antisaccade cost measures yielded by an eye movement task in the sample of individuals, and whether these alternative approaches have comparable levels of psychometric reliability. Ninety-three individuals completed an eye movement task and a probe-based task at two assessment times, and an index of antisaccade cost was computed from each task at each assessment time. Analyses revealed that the antisaccade cost index yielded by each task demonstrated high internal reliability (eye-movement, rSB = .92; probe-based, rSB = .80-.84) and high test-retest reliability (eye-movement, rSB = .82; probe-based, rSB = .72), but modest measurement convergence (r = .21-.35). Findings suggest that probe-based and eye-movement based antisaccade tasks measure shared variance in attentional control, although their measures do not converge strongly enough to be considered equivalent measures of attentional control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Basanovic
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Owen Myles
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Colin MacLeod
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
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2
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Dann KM, Veldre A, Hay P, Touyz S, Andrews S. Assessing cognitive flexibility in anorexia nervosa using eye tracking: A registered report. Int J Eat Disord 2022; 55:1411-1417. [PMID: 35841161 PMCID: PMC9796072 DOI: 10.1002/eat.23779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Cognitive flexibility research in anorexia nervosa (AN) has primarily focused on group differences between clinical and control participants, but research in the general population utilizing the mixed pro- anti-saccade flexibility task has demonstrated individual differences in trait anxiety are a determinant of switching performance, and switching impairments are more pronounced for keypress than saccadic (eye-movement) responses. The aim of the current research is to explore trait anxiety and differences in saccadic and keypress responding as potential determinants of performance on flexibility tasks in AN. METHOD We will compare performance on the mixed pro- anti-saccade paradigm between female adult participants with a current diagnosis of AN and matched control participants, observing both saccadic and keypress responses while controlling for trait anxiety (State - Trait Anxiety Inventory) and spatial working memory (Corsi Block Tapping Test). Associations with eating disorder-related symptoms (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), flexibility in everyday life (Eating Disorder Flexibility Index), and the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire will also be assessed. RESULTS Data which controls for individual differences in trait anxiety and assesses flexibility at both the task- and response-set level may be used to more accurately understand differences in performance on cognitive flexibility tasks by participants with AN. DISCUSSION Clarifying the effects of trait anxiety on flexibility, and differences between task- and response-set switching may advance our understanding of how cognitive flexibility relates to flexibility in everyday life and improve translation to therapeutic approaches. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This research will compare performance on a flexibility task between participants with anorexia nervosa (AN) and controls while observing their eye-movements to examine whether trait anxiety and type of response (eye-movement and keypress) are associated with performance. This data may improve our understanding of why participants with AN perform more poorly on cognitive flexibility tasks, and how poor cognitive flexibility relates to eating disorder-related issues with flexibility in everyday life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly M. Dann
- School of PsychologyThe University of SydneySydneyAustralia
| | - Aaron Veldre
- School of PsychologyThe University of SydneySydneyAustralia
| | - Phillipa Hay
- Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), School of MedicineWestern Sydney UniversitySydneyAustralia
| | - Stephen Touyz
- InsideOut InstituteThe University of SydneySydneyAustralia
| | - Sally Andrews
- School of PsychologyThe University of SydneySydneyAustralia
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3
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Linton SR, Popa AM, Luck SJ, Bolden K, Angkustsiri K, Carter CS, Niendam TA, Simon TJ. Atypical attentional filtering of visual information in youth with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome as indexed by event-related potentials. Neuroimage Clin 2021; 32:102877. [PMID: 34773799 PMCID: PMC8592928 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Youth with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q) face one of the highest genetic risk factors for the development of schizophrenia. Previous research suggests impairments in attentional control and potential interactions with elevated anxiety and reduced adaptive functioning may increase the risk for developing psychosis in this population. Here, we examined how variations in attentional control relate to the presence or severity of psychosis-proneness symptoms in these individuals. METHODS To achieve this, we measured attentional control in youth (12-18 years) with 22q (N = 35) compared to a typically developing group (N = 45), using a flanker task (the Distractor Target task) while measuring neural activity with event-related potentials. RESULTS Similar to previous findings observed in people with schizophrenia, greater attentional capture by, and reduced suppression of, non-target flanker stimuli characterized participants with 22q and was indexed by the N2pc (N2-posterior-contralateral) and PD (distractor positivity) components. Although we observed no relationships between these components and measures of psychosis-proneness in youth with 22q, these individuals endorsed a relatively low incidence of positive symptoms overall. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide neural evidence of an attentional control impairment in youth with 22q that suggests these individuals experience sustained attentional focus on irrelevant information and reduced suppression of distracting stimuli in their environment. Impairments in attentional control might be a valid biomarker of the potential to develop attenuated positive symptoms or frank psychosis in high-risk individuals long before the age at which such symptoms typically arise. The evaluation of such a hypothesis, and the preventive potential for the putative biomarker, should be the focus of future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- S R Linton
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; MIND Institute, UC Davis, 2825 50(th) Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
| | - A M Popa
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; MIND Institute, UC Davis, 2825 50(th) Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - S J Luck
- Center for Mind and Brain and Department of Psychology, UC Davis, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - K Bolden
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Imaging Research Center, UC Davis, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - K Angkustsiri
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Department of Pediatrics, UC Davis, 2516 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - C S Carter
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Imaging Research Center, UC Davis, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - T A Niendam
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Imaging Research Center, UC Davis, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - T J Simon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; MIND Institute, UC Davis, 2825 50(th) Street, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
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Psychopathology and Neurocognition in the Era of the p-Factor: The Current Landscape and the Road Forward. PSYCHIATRY INTERNATIONAL 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/psychiatryint2030018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurocognitive abilities have frequently been claimed to be involved in the aetiology of psychopathology. Neurocognitive deficits have been reported across many disorders, and theoretical perspectives associate these deficits to the onset and maintenance of the symptomology. Recently, the heterogeneity of symptoms, and comorbidity of disorders, have motivated the development of structural models of psychopathology. Structural models indicate that factors such as internalising, externalising, thought disorder and the p-factor account for a wide variety of symptomology. It is unclear how neurocognitive abilities are best examined within these structures to advance our understanding of psychopathology. In this paper, we use Caspi et al.’s seminal writings as a framework to describe how neurocognitive abilities have been previously associated with categorical disorders and recently associated, and claimed to drive, the factors of psychopathology. We discuss the implications of the p-factor as a substantive construct or statistical artefact, and how this impacts the exploration of neurocognitive abilities and psychopathology. Further, we provide the case for alternative structural approaches, describe an innovative hypothesis of neurocognitive functioning, the multidimensional hypothesis, and explain how this may further our understanding of the heterogeneity of neurocognitive performance and psychopathology at the individual level. Finally, we provide a road forward for the future examination of neurocognitive abilities in psychopathology.
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5
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Bansal S, Gaspar JM, Robinson BM, Leonard CJ, Hahn B, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Antisaccade Deficits in Schizophrenia Can Be Driven by Attentional Relevance of the Stimuli. Schizophr Bull 2020; 47:363-372. [PMID: 32766726 PMCID: PMC7965078 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbaa106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The antisaccade task is considered a test of cognitive control because it creates a conflict between the strong bottom-up signal produced by the cue and the top-down goal of shifting gaze to the opposite side of the display. Antisaccade deficits in schizophrenia are thought to reflect impaired top-down inhibition of the prepotent bottom-up response to the cue. However, the cue is also a highly task-relevant stimulus that must be covertly attended to determine where to shift gaze. We tested the hypothesis that difficulty in overcoming the attentional relevance of the cue, rather than its bottom-up salience, is key in producing impaired performance in people with schizophrenia (PSZ). We implemented 3 versions of the antisaccade task in which we varied the bottom-up salience of the cue while holding its attentional relevance constant. We found that difficulty in performing a given antisaccade task-relative to a prosaccade version using the same stimuli-was largely independent of the cue's bottom-up salience. The magnitude of impairment in PSZ relative to control subjects was also independent of bottom-up salience. The greatest impairment was observed in a version where the cue lacked bottom-up salience advantage over other locations. These results indicate that the antisaccade deficit in PSZ does not reflect an impairment in overcoming bottom-up salience of the cue, but PSZ are instead impaired at overcoming its attentional relevance. This deficit may still indicate an underlying inhibitory control impairment but could also reflect a hyperfocusing of attentional resources on the cue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Bansal
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Catonsville, MD,To whom correspondence should be addressed; Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 55 Wade Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228, USA; tel: (410)-402-6881, fax: (410)-401-7198, e-mail:
| | - John M Gaspar
- Department of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Catonsville, MD
| | - Carly J Leonard
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO
| | - Britta Hahn
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Catonsville, MD
| | - Steven J Luck
- Department of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA
| | - James M Gold
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Catonsville, MD
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6
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Aponte EA, Stephan KE, Heinzle J. Switch costs in inhibitory control and voluntary behaviour: A computational study of the antisaccade task. Eur J Neurosci 2019; 50:3205-3220. [PMID: 31081574 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Revised: 03/25/2019] [Accepted: 05/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
An integral aspect of human cognition is the ability to inhibit stimulus-driven, habitual responses, in favour of complex, voluntary actions. In addition, humans can also alternate between different tasks. This comes at the cost of degraded performance when compared to repeating the same task, a phenomenon called the "task-switch cost." While task switching and inhibitory control have been studied extensively, the interaction between them has received relatively little attention. Here, we used the SERIA model, a computational model of antisaccade behaviour, to draw a bridge between them. We investigated task switching in two versions of the mixed antisaccade task, in which participants are cued to saccade either in the same or in the opposite direction to a peripheral stimulus. SERIA revealed that stopping a habitual action leads to increased inhibitory control that persists onto the next trial, independently of the upcoming trial type. Moreover, switching between tasks induces slower and less accurate voluntary responses compared to repeat trials. However, this only occurs when participants lack the time to prepare the correct response. Altogether, SERIA demonstrates that there is a reconfiguration cost associated with switching between voluntary actions. In addition, the enhanced inhibition that follows antisaccade but not prosaccade trials explains asymmetric switch costs. In conclusion, SERIA offers a novel model of task switching that unifies previous theoretical accounts by distinguishing between inhibitory control and voluntary action generation and could help explain similar phenomena in paradigms beyond the antisaccade task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo A Aponte
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Klaas E Stephan
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.,Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jakob Heinzle
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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7
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Hedge C, Powell G, Bompas A, Vivian-Griffiths S, Sumner P. Low and variable correlation between reaction time costs and accuracy costs explained by accumulation models: Meta-analysis and simulations. Psychol Bull 2018; 144:1200-1227. [PMID: 30265012 PMCID: PMC6195302 DOI: 10.1037/bul0000164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The underpinning assumption of much research on cognitive individual differences (or group differences) is that task performance indexes cognitive ability in that domain. In many tasks performance is measured by differences (costs) between conditions, which are widely assumed to index a psychological process of interest rather than extraneous factors such as speed-accuracy trade-offs (e.g., Stroop, implicit association task, lexical decision, antisaccade, Simon, Navon, flanker, and task switching). Relatedly, reaction time (RT) costs or error costs are interpreted similarly and used interchangeably in the literature. All of this assumes a strong correlation between RT-costs and error-costs from the same psychological effect. We conducted a meta-analysis to test this, with 114 effects across a range of well-known tasks. Counterintuitively, we found a general pattern of weak, and often no, association between RT and error costs (mean r = .17, range -.45 to .78). This general problem is accounted for by the theoretical framework of evidence accumulation models, which capture individual differences in (at least) 2 distinct ways. Differences affecting accumulation rate produce positive correlation. But this is cancelled out if individuals also differ in response threshold, which produces negative correlations. In the models, subtractions between conditions do not isolate processing costs from caution. To demonstrate the explanatory power of synthesizing the traditional subtraction method within a broader decision model framework, we confirm 2 predictions with new data. Thus, using error costs or RT costs is more than a pragmatic choice; the decision carries theoretical consequence that can be understood through the accumulation model framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
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8
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Sabb FW, Hellemann G, Allen NB, Bearden CE. Enhanced switching and familial susceptibility for psychosis. Brain Behav 2018; 8:e00988. [PMID: 30106252 PMCID: PMC5991556 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2017] [Revised: 02/22/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Working Memory and Task-Switching are essential components of cognitive control, which underlies many symptoms evident across multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, including psychotic and mood disorders. Vulnerability to these disorders has a substantial genetic component, suggesting that clinically unaffected first-degree relatives may carry some vulnerability-related traits. Converging evidence from animal and human studies demonstrates that dopamine transmission, striatal and frontal brain regions, and attention and switching behaviors are essential components of a multilevel circuit involved in salience, and disruptions in that circuit may lead to features of psychosis. Yet, it is possible that unaffected relatives may also possess characteristics that protect against development of illness. We hypothesized that reduced switch cost in a cued task-switching task, may be a behavioral expression of this "resilience" phenotype that will be observable in unaffected relatives. METHODS We tested a large community sample (n = 536) via the web, to assess different subcomponents of cognitive control, including task-switching and working memory, as well as risk-taking, among individuals who report having an affected relative with a psychotic or mood disorder. RESULTS Healthy individuals with suspected genetic risk due to a self-reported familial history of a psychotic disorder demonstrated better task-switching performance compared to healthy people without a psychiatrically ill relative and those with a relative with a mood disorder. This result was specific to illness status and task domain, in that individuals with a personal history of depression or anxiety did not show improved task-switching performance, and this improvement was selective to task-switching and not seen in other putative cognitive control domains (working memory or risk taking). CONCLUSIONS Although this study has limitations and independent replication is needed, these preliminary findings suggest a potential avenue for understanding susceptibility to these disorders by highlighting possible protective as well as vulnerability-related aspects of risk phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fred W. Sabb
- Lewis Center for NeuroimagingUniversity of OregonEugeneOregon
| | - Gerhard Hellemann
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human BehaviorUCLALos AngelesCalifornia
| | | | - Carrie E. Bearden
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human BehaviorUCLALos AngelesCalifornia
- Brain Research InstituteUCLALos AngelesCalifornia
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9
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Kehagia AA, Ye R, Joyce DW, Doyle OM, Rowe JB, Robbins TW. Parsing the Roles of the Frontal Lobes and Basal Ganglia in Task Control Using Multivoxel Pattern Analysis. J Cogn Neurosci 2017; 29:1390-1401. [PMID: 28387585 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control has traditionally been associated with pFC based on observations of deficits in patients with frontal lesions. However, evidence from patients with Parkinson disease indicates that subcortical regions also contribute to control under certain conditions. We scanned 17 healthy volunteers while they performed a task-switching paradigm that previously dissociated performance deficits arising from frontal lesions in comparison with Parkinson disease, as a function of the abstraction of the rules that are switched. From a multivoxel pattern analysis by Gaussian Process Classification, we then estimated the forward (generative) model to infer regional patterns of activity that predict Switch/Repeat behavior between rule conditions. At 1000 permutations, Switch/Repeat classification accuracy for concrete rules was significant in the BG, but at chance in the frontal lobe. The inverse pattern was obtained for abstract rules, whereby the conditions were successfully discriminated in the frontal lobe but not in the BG. This double dissociation highlights the difference between cortical and subcortical contributions to cognitive control and demonstrates the utility of multivariate approaches in investigations of functions that rely on distributed and overlapping neural substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - James B Rowe
- University of Cambridge.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
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10
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Baran B, Karahanoğlu FI, Agam Y, Mantonakis L, Manoach DS. Failure to mobilize cognitive control for challenging tasks correlates with symptom severity in schizophrenia. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2016; 12:887-893. [PMID: 27872811 PMCID: PMC5109850 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2016.10.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Revised: 10/20/2016] [Accepted: 10/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in the adaptive, flexible control of behavior contribute to the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia. We used functional MRI and an antisaccade paradigm to examine the neural correlates of cognitive control deficits and their relations to symptom severity. Thirty-three chronic medicated outpatients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls performed an antisaccade paradigm. We examined differences in recruitment of the cognitive control network and task performance for Hard (high control) versus Easy (low control) antisaccade trials within and between groups. We focused on the key regions involved in ‘top-down’ control of ocular motor structures – dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. In patients, we examined whether difficulty implementing cognitive control correlated with symptom severity. Patients made more errors overall, and had shorter saccadic latencies than controls on correct Hard vs. Easy trials. Unlike controls, patients failed to increase activation in the cognitive control network for Hard vs. Easy trials. Reduced activation for Hard vs. Easy trials predicted higher error rates in both groups and increased symptom severity in schizophrenia. These findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia are impaired in mobilizing cognitive control when presented with challenges and that this contributes to deficits suppressing prepotent but contextually inappropriate responses, to behavior that is stimulus-bound and error-prone rather than flexibly guided by context, and to symptom expression. Therapies aimed at increasing cognitive control may improve both cognitive flexibility and reduce the impact of symptoms. Patients with schizophrenia fail to mobilize the cognitive control network during a challenging cognitive task. This deficit results in behavior that is stimulus-bound and error-prone rather than flexibly guided by context. Therapies aimed at increasing cognitive control may improve both cognitive flexibility and reduce the impact of symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bengi Baran
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - F Işık Karahanoğlu
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - Yigal Agam
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - Leonidas Mantonakis
- Psychiatry Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | - Dara S Manoach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States
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11
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Rodrigue AL, Austin BP, Dyckman KA, McDowell JE. Brain activation differences in schizophrenia during context-dependent processing of saccade tasks. Behav Brain Funct 2016; 12:19. [PMID: 27342314 PMCID: PMC4919833 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-016-0103-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2015] [Accepted: 06/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Brain function in schizophrenia has been probed using saccade paradigms and functional magnetic resonance imaging, but little information exists about how changing task context impacts saccade related brain activation and behavioral performance. We recruited schizophrenia and comparison subjects to perform saccade tasks in differing contexts: (1) two single task runs (anti- or pro-saccades alternating with fixation) and (2) one dual task run (antisaccades alternating with prosaccades). Results Context-dependent differences in saccade circuitry were evaluated using ROI analyses. Distinction between anti- and pro-saccade activation across contexts (single versus dual task) suggests that the schizophrenia group did not respond to context in the same way as the comparison group. Conclusions Further investigation of context processing effects on brain activation and saccade performance measures informs models of cognitive deficits in the disorder and enhances understanding of antisaccades as a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12993-016-0103-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- A L Rodrigue
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Psychology Building 125 Baldwin Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - B P Austin
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Psychology Building 125 Baldwin Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.,Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, 2500 Overlook Terrace, Madison, WI, 53705, USA
| | - K A Dyckman
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Psychology Building 125 Baldwin Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - J E McDowell
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Psychology Building 125 Baldwin Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
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12
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Wang YG, Shi JF, Roberts DL, Jiang XY, Shen ZH, Wang YQ, Wang K. Theory-of-mind use in remitted schizophrenia patients: The role of inhibition and perspective-switching. Psychiatry Res 2015. [PMID: 26216168 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.06.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
In social interaction, Theory of Mind (ToM) enables us to construct representations of others' mental states, and to use those representations flexibly to explain or predict others' behavior. Although previous literature has documented that schizophrenia is associated with poor ToM ability, little is known about the cognitive mechanisms underlying their difficulty in ToM use. This study developed a new methodology to test whether the difficulty in false-belief-use might be related to deficits in perspective-switching or impaired inhibitory control among 23 remitted schizophrenia patients and 18 normal controls. Patients showed a significantly greater error rate in a perspective-switching condition than a perspective-repeating position in a false-belief-use task, whereas normal controls did not show a difference between the two conditions. In addition, a larger main effect of inhibition was found in remitted schizophrenia patients than normal controls in both a false-belief-use task and control task. Thus, remitted schizophrenia patients' impairment in ToM use might be accounted for, at least partially, by deficits in perspective-switching and impaired inhibitory control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Guang Wang
- Department of Brain Functioning Research, the Seventh Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Clinical Institute of Mental Health in Hangzhou, Anhui Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Jian-fei Shi
- Department of Brain Functioning Research, the Seventh Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
| | - David L Roberts
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA
| | - Xiao-ying Jiang
- Department of Brain Functioning Research, the Seventh Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Zhi-hua Shen
- Department of Brain Functioning Research, the Seventh Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Yi-quan Wang
- Department of Brain Functioning Research, the Seventh Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Kai Wang
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 218 Jixi Road, Hefei 230022, Anhui Province, China.
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Padmanabhan A, Garver K, O'Hearn K, Nawarawong N, Liu R, Minshew N, Sweeney J, Luna B. Developmental changes in brain function underlying inhibitory control in autism spectrum disorders. Autism Res 2014; 8:123-35. [PMID: 25382787 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 05/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The development of inhibitory control-the ability to suppress inappropriate actions in order to make goal-directed responses-is often impaired in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the present study, we examined whether the impairments in inhibitory control evident in ASD reflect-in part-differences in the development of the neural substrates of inhibitory control from adolescence into adulthood. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on the anti-saccade task, a probe of inhibitory control, in high-functioning adolescents and adults with ASD compared to a matched group of typically developing (TD) individuals. The ASD group did not show the age-related improvements in behavioral performance from adolescence to adulthood evident in the typical group, consistent with previous behavioral work. The fMRI results indicated that much of the circuitry recruited by the ASD group was similar to the TD group. However, the ASD group demonstrated some unique patterns, including: (a) a failure to recruit the frontal eye field during response preparation in adolescence but comparable recruitment in adulthood; (b) greater recruitment of putamen in adolescence and precuneus in adolescence and adulthood than the TD group; and (c) decreased recruitment in the inferior parietal lobule relative to TD groups. Taken together, these results suggest that brain circuitry underlying inhibitory control develops differently from adolescence to adulthood in ASD. Specifically, there may be relative underdevelopment of brain processes underlying inhibitory control in ASD, which may lead to engagement of subcortical compensatory processes.
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Leonard CJ, Robinson BM, Kaiser ST, Hahn B, McClenon C, Harvey AN, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Testing sensory and cognitive explanations of the antisaccade deficit in schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2014; 122:1111-20. [PMID: 24364614 DOI: 10.1037/a0034956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent research has suggested that people with schizophrenia (PSZ) have sensory deficits, especially in the magnocellular pathway, and this has led to the proposal that dysfunctional sensory processing may underlie higher-order cognitive deficits. Here we test the hypothesis that the antisaccade deficit in PSZ reflects dysfunctional magnocellular processing rather than impaired cognitive processing, as indexed by working memory capacity. This is a plausible hypothesis because oculomotor regions have direct magnocellular inputs, and the stimuli used in most antisaccade tasks strongly activate the magnocellular visual pathway. In the current study, we examined both prosaccade and antisaccade performance in PSZ (N = 22) and matched healthy control subjects (HCS; N = 22) with Gabor stimuli designed to preferentially activate the magnocellular pathway, the parvocellular pathway, or both pathways. We also measured working memory capacity. PSZ exhibited impaired antisaccade performance relative to HCS across stimulus types, with impairment even for stimuli that minimized magnocellular activation. Although both sensory thresholds and working memory capacity were impaired in PSZ, only working memory capacity was correlated with antisaccade accuracy, consistent with a cognitive rather than sensory origin for the antisaccade deficit.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Mary- land School of Medicine
| | - Samuel T Kaiser
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Mary- land School of Medicine
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Mary- land School of Medicine
| | | | - Alex N Harvey
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Mary- land School of Medicine
| | | | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Mary- land School of Medicine
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The unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost: Correct and error antisaccades differentially influence the planning times for subsequent prosaccades. Vision Res 2014; 96:17-24. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Revised: 10/24/2013] [Accepted: 12/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Repetitive antisaccade execution does not increase the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2014; 146:67-72. [PMID: 24412836 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Revised: 12/06/2013] [Accepted: 12/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
An antisaccade is the execution of a saccade to the mirror-symmetrical location (i.e., same amplitude but opposite visual field) of a single and exogenously presented visual target. Such a response requires top-down decoupling of the normally direct spatial relations between stimulus and response and results in increased planning times and directional errors compared to their spatially compatible prosaccade counterparts. Moreover, antisaccades are associated with diffuse changes in cortical and subcortical saccade networks: a finding that has, in part, been attributed to pre-setting the oculomotor system to withhold a stimulus-driven prosaccade. Moreover, recent work has shown that a corollary cost of oculomotor pre-setting is that the planning time for a to-be-completed prosaccade is longer when preceded by an antisaccade (i.e., the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost). Notably, this result has been attributed to antisaccades imparting a residual inhibition of the oculomotor networks that support the planning of stimulus-driven prosaccades. In the current investigation, we sought to determine if the number of antisaccades preceding a prosaccade increases this residual inhibition and thus influences the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost. To that end, participants alternated between pro- and antisaccades after every second (i.e., AABB schedule) and every fourth (i.e., AAAABBBB schedule) trial. In addition, participants completed pro- and antisaccades in separate blocks of trials. Results demonstrated that task-switch prosaccades produced longer reaction times than their task-repetition and blocked condition counterparts, whereas antisaccade reaction times did not vary across task-repetition, task-switch and blocked condition trials. Most notably, the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost was not modulated across the different task-switching schedules. Thus, we propose that the top-down requirements of the antisaccade task do not produce additive inhibition of stimulus-driven saccade networks.
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Bender J, Reuter B, Möllers D, Kaufmann C, Gallinat J, Kathmann N. Neural correlates of impaired volitional action control in schizophrenia patients. Psychophysiology 2013; 50:872-84. [PMID: 23790023 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2012] [Accepted: 03/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Slowed initiation of volitional but not visually guided saccades indicates impaired volitional action control in schizophrenia patients (SZ). The present study aimed at identifying neural correlates of this specific deficit. Fourteen SZ and 13 healthy control participants (HC) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing volitional and visually guided saccades. SZ showed increased latencies in volitional but not in visually guided saccades. Brain activation during volitional saccades compared to visually guided saccades was increased in SZ compared to HC in several areas: the supplementary eye fields, suggesting inefficient production of volitional saccades; the prefrontal cortex, pointing to altered top down control on complex eye movements; and the left middle temporal area, suggesting changes in early sensory and attention processing during the volitional control of saccades in SZ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Bender
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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Wang J, Tian J, Wang R, Benson V. Increased attentional focus modulates eye movements in a mixed antisaccade task for younger and older adults. PLoS One 2013; 8:e61566. [PMID: 23620767 PMCID: PMC3631188 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2013] [Accepted: 03/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined performance in the antisaccade task for younger and older adults by comparing latencies and errors in what we defined as high attentional focus (mixed antisaccades and prosaccades in the same block) and low attentional focus (antisaccades and prosaccades in separate blocks) conditions. Shorter saccade latencies for correctly executed eye movements were observed for both groups in mixed, compared to blocked, antisaccade tasks, but antisaccade error rates were higher for older participants across both conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the inhibitory hypothesis, the goal neglect theory and attentional control theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxin Wang
- Academy of Psychology and Behaviour, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Jing Tian
- Academy of Psychology and Behaviour, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Rong Wang
- Department of Humanities and Social Science, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, China
| | - Valerie Benson
- Centre for Visual Cognition, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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Weiler J, Heath M. Task-switching in oculomotor control: Unidirectional switch-cost when alternating between pro- and antisaccades. Neurosci Lett 2012; 530:150-4. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2012] [Accepted: 10/03/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Wible CG. Hippocampal temporal-parietal junction interaction in the production of psychotic symptoms: a framework for understanding the schizophrenic syndrome. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:180. [PMID: 22737114 PMCID: PMC3381447 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2011] [Accepted: 06/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
A framework is described for understanding the schizophrenic syndrome at the brain systems level. It is hypothesized that over-activation of dynamic gesture and social perceptual processes in the temporal-parietal occipital junction (TPJ), posterior superior temporal sulcus (PSTS) and surrounding regions produce the syndrome (including positive and negative symptoms, their prevalence, prodromal signs, and cognitive deficits). Hippocampal system hyper-activity and atrophy have been consistently found in schizophrenia. Hippocampal activity is highly correlated with activity in the TPJ and may be a source of over-excitation of the TPJ and surrounding regions. Strong evidence for this comes from in-vivo recordings in humans during psychotic episodes. Many positive symptoms of schizophrenia can be reframed as the erroneous sense of a presence or other who is observing, acting, speaking, or controlling; these qualia are similar to those evoked during abnormal activation of the TPJ. The TPJ and PSTS play a key role in the perception (and production) of dynamic social, emotional, and attentional gestures for the self and others (e.g., body/face/eye gestures, audiovisual speech and prosody, and social attentional gestures such as eye gaze). The single cell representation of dynamic gestures is multimodal (auditory, visual, tactile), matching the predominant hallucinatory categories in schizophrenia. Inherent in the single cell perceptual signal of dynamic gesture representations is a computation of intention, agency, and anticipation or expectancy (for the self and others). Stimulation of the TPJ resulting in activation of the self representation has been shown to result a feeling of a presence or multiple presences (due to heautoscopy) and also bizarre tactile experiences. Neurons in the TPJ are also tuned, or biased to detect threat related emotions. Abnormal over-activation in this system could produce the conscious hallucination of a voice (audiovisual speech), a person or a touch. Over-activation could interfere with attentional/emotional gesture perception and production (negative symptoms). It could produce the unconscious feeling of being watched, followed, or of a social situation unfolding along with accompanying abnormal perception of intent and agency (delusions). Abnormal activity in the TPJ would also be predicted to create several cognitive disturbances that are characteristic of schizophrenia, including abnormalities in attention, predictive social processing, working memory, and a bias to erroneously perceive threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia G Wible
- Laboratory for Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Brockton MA, USA
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Anxiety, a benefit and detriment to cognition: behavioral and magnetoencephalographic evidence from a mixed-saccade task. Brain Cogn 2012; 78:257-67. [PMID: 22289426 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2011] [Revised: 12/20/2011] [Accepted: 01/06/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety is typically considered an impediment to cognition. We propose anxiety-related impairments in cognitive-behavioral performance are the consequences of enhanced stimulus-driven attention. Accordingly, reflexive, habitual behaviors that rely on stimulus-driven mechanisms should be facilitated in an anxious state, while novel, flexible behaviors that compete with the former should be impaired. To test these predictions, healthy adults (N=17) performed a mixed-saccade task, which pits habitual actions (pro-saccades) against atypical ones (anti-saccades), under anxiety-inducing threat of shock and safe conditions. Whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) captured oscillatory responses in the preparatory interval preceding target onset and saccade execution. Results showed threat-induced anxiety differentially impacted response times based on the type of saccade initiated, slowing anti-saccades but facilitating erroneous pro-saccades on anti-saccade trials. MEG source analyses revealed that successful suppression of reflexive pro-saccades and correct initiation of anti-saccades during threat was marked by increased theta power in right ventrolateral prefrontal cortical and midbrain regions (superior colliculi) implicated in stimulus-driven attention. Theta activity may delay stimulus-driven processes to enable generation of an anti-saccade. Moreover, compared to safety, threat reduced beta desynchronization in inferior parietal cortices during anti-saccade preparation but increased it during pro-saccade preparation. Differential effects in inferior parietal cortices indicate a greater readiness to execute anti-saccades during safety and to execute pro-saccades during threat. These findings suggest that, in an anxiety state, reduced cognitive-behavioral flexibility may stem from enhanced stimulus-driven attention, which may serve the adaptive function of optimizing threat detection.
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Dyckman KA, Lee AKC, Agam Y, Vangel M, Goff DC, Barton JJ, Manoach DS. Abnormally persistent fMRI activation during antisaccades in schizophrenia: a neural correlate of perseveration? Schizophr Res 2011; 132:62-8. [PMID: 21831602 PMCID: PMC3172368 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2011.07.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2011] [Revised: 07/15/2011] [Accepted: 07/18/2011] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Impaired antisaccade performance is a consistent cognitive finding in schizophrenia. Antisaccades require both response inhibition and volitional motor programming, functions that are essential to flexible responding. We investigated whether abnormal timing of hemodynamic responses (HDRs) to antisaccades might contribute to perseveration of ocular motor responses in schizophrenia. We focused on the frontal eye field (FEF), which has been implicated in the persistent effects of antisaccades on subsequent responses in healthy individuals. METHOD Eighteen chronic, medicated schizophrenia outpatients and 15 healthy controls performed antisaccades and prosaccades during functional MRI. Finite impulse response models provided unbiased estimates of event-related HDRs. We compared groups on the peak amplitude, time-to-peak, and full-width half-max of the HDRs. RESULTS In patients, HDRs in bilateral FEF were delayed and prolonged but ultimately of similar amplitude to that of controls. These abnormalities were present for antisaccades, but not prosaccades, and were not seen in a control region. More prolonged HDRs predicted slower responses in trials that followed an antisaccade. This suggests that persistent FEF activity following an antisaccade contributes to inter-trial effects on latency. CONCLUSIONS Delayed and prolonged HDRs for antisaccades in schizophrenia suggest that the functions necessary for successful antisaccade performance take longer to implement and are more persistent. If abnormally persistent neural responses on cognitively demanding tasks are a more general feature of schizophrenia, they may contribute to response perseveration, a classic behavioral abnormality. These findings also underscore the importance of evaluating the temporal dynamics of neural activity to understand cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kara A. Dyckman
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Adrian K. C. Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA,Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Yigal Agam
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Mark Vangel
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Donald C. Goff
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Jason J.S. Barton
- Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology, and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Dara S. Manoach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA,Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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Avsar KB, Stoeckel LE, Bolding MS, White DM, Tagamets MA, Holcomb HH, Lahti AC. Aberrant visual circuitry associated with normal spatial match-to-sample accuracy in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 2011; 193:138-43. [PMID: 21782395 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2010] [Revised: 12/20/2010] [Accepted: 03/15/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A goal of this study was to evaluate the function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in medicated patients with schizophrenia (SZ), a small group of first-degree relatives, and healthy controls using a visual delayed match-to-sample task in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To mitigate performance differences between SZ and healthy controls, we used a novel task that allows for individualized adjustment of task difficulty to match ability level. We also trained participants on the task prior to scanning. Using an event-related design, we modeled three components of the match-to-sample trial: visual encoding, delay, and discrimination. We did not find significant differences in ACC/medial frontal cortex activation between the groups. However, compared to healthy controls, SZ showed decreased activation in visual processing areas during the encoding and discrimination phases of the task and in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during the delay. These findings emphasize the tendency of schizophrenia subjects to solve perceptual memory problems by engaging diverse regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathy Burton Avsar
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-0017, USA
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Huddy VC, Hodgson TL, Ron MA, Barnes TRE, Joyce EM. Abnormal negative feedback processing in first episode schizophrenia: evidence from an oculomotor rule switching task. Psychol Med 2011; 41:1805-14. [PMID: 21211097 PMCID: PMC3154653 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291710002527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia are impaired on executive tasks, where positive and negative feedbacks are used to update task rules or switch attention. However, research to date using saccadic tasks has not revealed clear deficits in task switching in these patients. The present study used an oculomotor 'rule switching' task to investigate the use of negative feedback when switching between task rules in people with schizophrenia. METHOD A total of 50 patients with first episode schizophrenia and 25 healthy controls performed a task in which the association between a centrally presented visual cue and the direction of a saccade could change from trial to trial. Rule changes were heralded by an unexpected negative feedback, indicating that the cue-response mapping had reversed. RESULTS Schizophrenia patients were found to make increased errors following a rule switch, but these were almost entirely the result of executing saccades away from the location at which the negative feedback had been presented on the preceding trial. This impairment in negative feedback processing was independent of IQ. CONCLUSIONS The results not only confirm the existence of a basic deficit in stimulus-response rule switching in schizophrenia, but also suggest that this arises from aberrant processing of response outcomes, resulting in a failure to appropriately update rules. The findings are discussed in the context of neurological and pharmacological abnormalities in the conditions that may disrupt prediction error signalling in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- V C Huddy
- Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, UK.
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Kompus K, Westerhausen R, Hugdahl K. The "paradoxical" engagement of the primary auditory cortex in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations: a meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:3361-9. [PMID: 21872614 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2011] [Revised: 08/09/2011] [Accepted: 08/10/2011] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The existing literature on neuroimaging studies of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in patients with schizophrenia contains an apparent "paradox" in that the same areas in the auditory cortex seem to be both activated and deactivated in relation to AVHs, depending on whether an external auditory stimulus is present or not. We performed meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies examining patients with schizophrenia during the processing of auditory stimuli and in individuals experiencing hallucinations in the absence of auditory stimuli to examine whether the auditory cortex shows the paradoxical decrease/increase pattern across studies. Databases PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge were queried with the combination of the keywords "auditory verbal hallucinations", "auditory hallucinations", "fMRI", "PET", "imaging", yielding 11 studies involving comparison between schizophrenia and control group during external auditory stimulation, and 12 studies of hallucinating subjects experiencing AVHs and resting in the absence of auditory stimulation. The data were analyzed using Activation Likelihood Estimation method. The results showed overlapping increased activation in the absence of an external stimulus, and decreased activation in the presence of an external auditory stimulus in the left primary auditory cortex and in the right rostral prefrontal cortex, confirming the "paradoxical" brain activation in relation to AVHs. It is suggested that the "paradox" may be caused by an attentional bias towards internally generated information and failure of down- and up-regulation of the default mode and auditory processing networks, respectively, with the consequence that the spontaneous activation in the absence of an external stimulus shuts down the perceptual apparatus for further processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristiina Kompus
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
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Human prosaccades and antisaccades under risk: effects of penalties and rewards on visual selection and the value of actions. Neuroscience 2011; 196:168-77. [PMID: 21846493 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2011] [Revised: 07/21/2011] [Accepted: 08/02/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Monkey studies report greater activity in the lateral intraparietal area and more efficient saccades when targets coincide with the location of prior reward cues, even when cue location does not indicate which responses will be rewarded. This suggests that reward can modulate spatial attention and visual selection independent of the "action value" of the motor response. Our goal was first to determine whether reward modulated visual selection similarly in humans, and next, to discover whether reward and penalty differed in effect, if cue effects were greater for cognitively demanding antisaccades, and if financial consequences that were contingent on stimulus location had spatially selective effects. We found that motivational cues reduced all latencies, more for reward than penalty. There was an "inhibition-of-return"-like effect at the location of the cue, but unlike the results in monkeys, cue valence did not modify this effect in prosaccades, and the inhibition-of-return effect was slightly increased rather than decreased in antisaccades. When financial consequences were contingent on target location, locations without reward or penalty consequences lost the benefits seen in noncontingent trials, whereas locations with consequences maintained their gains. We conclude that unlike monkeys, humans show reward effects not on visual selection but on the value of actions. The human saccadic system has both the capacity to enhance responses to multiple locations simultaneously, and the flexibility to focus motivational enhancement only on locations with financial consequences. Reward is more effective than penalty, and both interact with the additional attentional demands of the antisaccade task.
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Finke M, Barceló F, Garolera M, Cortiñas M, Garrido G, Pajares M, Escera C. Impaired preparatory re-mapping of stimulus–response associations and rule-implementation in schizophrenic patients—The role for differences in early processing. Biol Psychol 2011; 87:358-65. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2010] [Revised: 03/03/2011] [Accepted: 04/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Breeze JMB, Kirkham AJ, Marí-Beffa P. Evidence of reduced selective attention in schizotypal personality disorder. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2011; 33:776-84. [PMID: 21526445 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2011.558495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
It has been shown that high-schizotypy and schizophrenic participants demonstrate increased task-switching costs, although high-schizotypy participants present this pattern only in incongruent trials (Cimino & Haywood, 2008). In this study, we aim to explore whether this results from difficulties in selective attention or task control. A total of 18 participants with high levels of psychometrically defined schizotypy and 16 participants with low scores were tested in two different versions of a task-switching paradigm. Participants were asked to switch between attending to the color or the shape of bidimensional objects following a previous cue. Two versions of the task were investigated, one involving only switches in the perceptual dimension to attend (color or shape) and another also switching the response set. High-schizotypy subjects consistently showed increased switch costs in incongruent trials for both versions of the tasks, demonstrating a deficit in the selection of the perceptual dimension instead of the selection of the response rules.
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Kang SS, Dionisio DP, Sponheim SR. Abnormal mechanisms of antisaccade generation in schizophrenia patients and unaffected biological relatives of schizophrenia patients. Psychophysiology 2011; 48:350-61. [PMID: 20636287 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01074.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Although errant saccadic eye movements may mark genetic factors in schizophrenia, little is known about abnormal brain activity that precedes saccades in individuals with genetic liability for schizophrenia. We investigated electrophysiological activity preceding prosaccades and antisaccades in schizophrenia patients, first-degree biological relatives of schizophrenia patients, and control subjects. Prior to antisaccades, patients had reduced potentials over lateral prefrontal cortex. Smaller potentials were associated with worse antisaccade performance. Relatives also exhibited reduced pre-saccadic potentials over lateral frontal cortex but additionally had reduced potentials over parietal cortex. Both patients and relatives tended toward increased activity over orbital frontal cortex prior to saccades. Results are consistent with lateral prefrontal dysfunction marking genetic liability for schizophrenia and underlying deficient saccadic control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seung Suk Kang
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minnesota Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minnesota Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Stoet G, López B. Task-switching abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2010.492000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Effects of aging on switching the response direction of pro- and antisaccades. Exp Brain Res 2010; 208:139-50. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-010-2466-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2010] [Accepted: 10/16/2010] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Vermeiren A, Liefooghe B, Vandierendonck A. Switch performance in peripherally and centrally triggered saccades. Exp Brain Res 2010; 206:243-8. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-010-2401-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2009] [Accepted: 08/19/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Agam Y, Joseph RM, Barton JJ, Manoach DS. Reduced cognitive control of response inhibition by the anterior cingulate cortex in autism spectrum disorders. Neuroimage 2010; 52:336-47. [PMID: 20394829 PMCID: PMC2883672 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2009] [Revised: 03/27/2010] [Accepted: 04/03/2010] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Response inhibition, or the suppression of prepotent, but contextually inappropriate behaviors, is essential to adaptive, flexible responding. In autism spectrum disorders (ASD), difficulty inhibiting prepotent behaviors may contribute to restricted, repetitive behavior (RRB). Individuals with ASD consistently show deficient response inhibition while performing antisaccades, which require one to inhibit the prepotent response of looking towards a suddenly appearing stimulus (i.e., a prosaccade), and to substitute a gaze in the opposite direction. Here, we used fMRI to identify the neural correlates of this deficit. We focused on two regions that are critical for saccadic inhibition: the frontal eye field (FEF), the key cortical region for generating volitional saccades, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), which is thought to exert top-down control on the FEF. We also compared ASD and control groups on the functional connectivity of the dACC and FEF during saccadic performance. In the context of an increased antisaccade error rate, ASD participants showed decreased functional connectivity of the FEF and dACC and decreased inhibition-related activation (based on the contrast of antisaccades and prosaccades) in both regions. Decreased dACC activation correlated with a higher error rate in both groups, consistent with a role in top-down control. Within the ASD group, increased FEF activation and dACC/FEF functional connectivity were associated with more severe RRB. These findings demonstrate functional abnormalities in a circuit critical for volitional ocular motor control in ASD that may contribute to deficient response inhibition and to RRB. More generally, our findings suggest reduced cognitive control over behavior by the dACC in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yigal Agam
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215
| | - Robert M. Joseph
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
| | - Jason J.S. Barton
- Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Dara S. Manoach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215
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Wylie GR, Clark EA, Butler PD, Javitt DC. Schizophrenia patients show task switching deficits consistent with N-methyl-d-aspartate system dysfunction but not global executive deficits: implications for pathophysiology of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2010; 36:585-94. [PMID: 18835838 PMCID: PMC2879687 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbn119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive processing deficits, including deficits in executive processing, that represent a core component of the disorder. In the Task Switching Test, subjects view ambiguous stimuli and must alternate between competing rules to generate correct responses. Subjects show worse performance (prolonged response time and/or increased error rates) on the first response after a switch than on subsequent responses ("switch costs"), as well as performing worse when stimuli are incongruent as opposed to congruent ("congruence costs"). Finally, subjects show worse performance in the dual vs single task condition ("mixing costs"). In monkeys, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist ketamine has been shown to increase congruence but not switch costs. Here, subjects viewed colored letters and had to respond alternately based upon letter (X vs O) or color (red vs blue). Switch, congruence and mixing costs were calculated. Patients with schizophrenia (n = 16) and controls (n = 17) showed similar switch costs, consistent with prior literature. Patients nevertheless showed increased congruence and mixing costs. In addition, relative to controls, patients showed worse performance across conditions in the letter vs color tasks, suggesting deficits in form vs color processing. Overall, while confirming executive dysfunction in schizophrenia, this study indicates that not all aspects of executive control are impaired and that the task switching paradigm may be useful for evaluating neurochemical vs neuroanatomic hypotheses of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Glenn R. Wylie
- Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Center, 300 Executive Drive, Suite 10, West Orange, NJ 07052,Department of Psychology, The City College of the City University of New York, North Academic Complex, 138th Street and Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031,The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey,To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: +973-530-3664, fax: +973-736-7880, e-mail:
| | - E. A. Clark
- Program in Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962
| | - P. D. Butler
- Program in Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962
| | - D. C. Javitt
- Department of Psychology, The City College of the City University of New York, North Academic Complex, 138th Street and Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031,Program in Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962
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Tu P, Buckner RL, Zollei L, Dyckman KA, Goff DC, Manoach DS. Reduced functional connectivity in a right-hemisphere network for volitional ocular motor control in schizophrenia. Brain 2010; 133:625-37. [PMID: 20159769 PMCID: PMC2858012 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awp317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2009] [Revised: 10/16/2009] [Accepted: 10/28/2009] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with schizophrenia consistently show deficient performance on tasks requiring volitional saccades. We previously reported reduced fractional anisotropy in the white matter underlying right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia, which, along with lower fractional anisotropy in the right frontal eye field and posterior parietal cortex, predicted longer latencies of volitional saccades. This suggests that reduced microstructural integrity of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex white matter disrupts connectivity in the right hemisphere-dominant network for spatial attention and volitional ocular motor control. To test this hypothesis, we examined functional connectivity of the cingulate eye field component of this network, which is located in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, during a task comprising volitional prosaccades and antisaccades. In patients with schizophrenia, we expected to find reduced functional connectivity, specifically in the right hemisphere, which predicted prolonged saccadic latency. Twenty-seven medicated schizophrenia outpatients and 21 demographically matched healthy controls performed volitional saccades during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Based on task-related activation, seed regions in the right and left cingulate eye field were defined. In both groups, the right and left cingulate eye field showed positive correlations with the ocular motor network and negative correlations with the default network. Patients showed reduced positive functional connectivity of the cingulate eye field, specifically in the right hemisphere. Negative functional connectivity of the right cingulate eye field predicted faster saccades, but these relations differed by group, and were only present in controls. This pattern of relations suggests that the coordination of activity between ocular motor and default networks is important for efficient task performance and is disrupted in schizophrenia. Along with prior observations of reduced white matter microstructural integrity (fractional anisotropy) in schizophrenia, the present finding of reduced functional connectivity suggests that functional and structural abnormalities of the right cingulate eye field disrupt connectivity in the network for spatial attention and volitional ocular motor control. These abnormalities may contribute to deficits in overcoming prepotency in the service of directing eye gaze and attention to the parts of the environment that are the most behaviourally relevant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peichi Tu
- 1 Institute of Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Randy L. Buckner
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- 3 Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- 4 Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- 5 Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- 6 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Lilla Zollei
- 4 Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Kara A. Dyckman
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Donald C. Goff
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Dara S. Manoach
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- 5 Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
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36
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Vernet M, Yang Q, Gruselle M, Trams M, Kapoula Z. Switching between gap and overlap pro-saccades: cost or benefit? Exp Brain Res 2009; 197:49-58. [PMID: 19526227 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-009-1887-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2008] [Accepted: 05/28/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Triggering of saccades depends on the task: in the gap task, fixation point switches off and target appears after a gap period; in the overlap task, target appears while fixation point is still on. Saccade latencies are shorter in the gap task, due to fixation disengagement and advanced movement preparation during the gap. The two modes of initiation are also hypothesized to be subtended by different cortical-subcortical circuits. This study tested whether interleaving the two tasks modifies latencies, due to switching between different modes of triggering. Two groups of healthy participants (21-29 vs. 39-55 years) made horizontal and vertical saccades in gap, overlap, and mixed tasks; saccades were recorded with the Eyelink. Both groups showed shorter latencies in the gap task, i.e. a robust gap effect and systematic differences between directions. For young adults, interleaving tasks made the latencies shorter or longer depending on direction, while for middle-age adults, latencies became longer for all directions. Our observations can be explained in the context of models such as that of Brown et al. (Neural Netw 17:471-510, 2004), which proposed that different combinations of frontal eye field (FEF) layers, interacting with cortico-subcortical areas, control saccade triggering in gap and overlap trials. Moreover, we suggest that in early adulthood, the FEF is functioning optimally; frequent changes of activity in the FEF can be beneficial, leading to shorter latencies, at least for some directions. However, for middle-age adults, frequent changes of activity of a less optimally functioning FEF can be time consuming. Studying the alternation of gap and overlap tasks provides a fine tool to explore development, aging and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marine Vernet
- IRIS Laboratory, CNRS, FRE 3154, Service d'ophtalmologie, Assistance publique, Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (Univ. Paris V), 20, rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France.
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37
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Franke C, Reuter B, Breddin A, Kathmann N. Response switching in schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects: effects of the inter-response interval. Exp Brain Res 2009; 196:429-38. [PMID: 19504260 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-009-1871-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2008] [Accepted: 05/16/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia patients show impaired saccadic response switching, pointing to action control deficits at the level of response selection. Previous studies on healthy subjects suggested that response switch effects might decrease if the prior response is longer ago, reflecting a slow dissipation of the response program persisting from the previous trial. The present study aimed at directly investigating whether response switch effects in schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects depend on the inter-response interval (IRI). Effects of response switching on pro- and antisaccade performance were analyzed in 19 schizophrenia patients and 19 healthy controls at 3 different IRIs (2,500, 3,000, 4,000 ms). Response switch effects of healthy subjects did not vary with the IRI, suggesting that the previous response program persists as long as no contrary response program is activated. In schizophrenia, response switch deficits were replicated at an IRI of 3,000 ms, whereas at IRIs of 2,500 and 4,000 ms, effects of response switching did not significantly differ from healthy subjects. This might suggest that there is a specific IRI range particularly sensitive to response switch deficits in schizophrenia. However, effects of response switching at different IRIs remain to be consolidated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosima Franke
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489, Berlin, Germany.
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38
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Ethridge LE, Brahmbhatt S, Gao Y, McDowell JE, Clementz BA. Consider the context: blocked versus interleaved presentation of antisaccade trials. Psychophysiology 2009; 46:1100-7. [PMID: 19497008 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00834.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Conclusions about the cognitive and neural requirements of saccade control may differ as a result of stimulus presentation method. This issue was examined in the current study by evaluating behavioral differences in pro- and antisaccade responses among 12 healthy young adults as a function of task presentation method, length of cue-to-target interval, and previous trial type. A 1-s cue-to-target interval fostered goal neglect, indicated by an increase in uncorrected errors and reaction times for "error" saccades. There was also a strong relationship between speed of visual orienting (prosaccade latencies) and failed inhibition (antisaccade errors) for the simultaneous condition. Interestingly, only the simultaneous condition produced task switch costs (on saccade latencies and error response percentages). The saccadic task presentation method, therefore, can influence conclusions about the cognitive operations supporting successful performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren E Ethridge
- Department of Psychology, Bio-Imaging Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-3013, USA
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39
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Smyrnis N. Metric issues in the study of eye movements in psychiatry. Brain Cogn 2008; 68:341-58. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2008.08.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/26/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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40
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Ceaser AE, Goldberg TE, Egan MF, McMahon RP, Weinberger DR, Gold JM. Set-shifting ability and schizophrenia: a marker of clinical illness or an intermediate phenotype? Biol Psychiatry 2008; 64:782-8. [PMID: 18597738 PMCID: PMC3466115 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2007] [Revised: 05/09/2008] [Accepted: 05/12/2008] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impairments of executive functioning, such as set-shifting ability, are seen as core deficits of schizophrenia and are of interest as candidate intermediate phenotype markers. The Intradimensional/Extradimensional (ID/ED) shift task offers a differentiated assessment of shifting from previously reinforced stimuli as well as shifting from previously reinforced features and has proven to be sensitive to the impairment seen in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS We examined ID/ED performance in 147 patients with schizophrenia, 131 of their healthy siblings, and 303 healthy control subjects. Participants were recruited from local and national sources as volunteers for the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch/National Institute of Mental Health "sibling study". RESULTS Nearly all control subjects (87%) finished the task successfully, as did 80% of siblings. In contrast only 54% of patients with schizophrenia were able to complete the task. Despite the apparent similarity of performance across the sibling and healthy comparison group, the two groups differed significantly in terms of the number of stages until failure. This difference, however, was not present at any particular stage or any other measure of performance. CONCLUSIONS Patients demonstrated robust ID/ED deficits. However, their siblings were minimally impaired, and this impairment did not seem to run in families. These results suggest that impairments on attentional set shifting assessed by ID/ED task are strongly associated with clinical illness, but these impairments are not a promising intermediate phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan E Ceaser
- Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1379, USA
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41
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Thakkar KN, Polli FE, Joseph RM, Tuch DS, Hadjikhani N, Barton JJS, Manoach DS. Response monitoring, repetitive behaviour and anterior cingulate abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008; 131:2464-78. [PMID: 18550622 PMCID: PMC2525446 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awn099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 246] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by inflexible and repetitive behaviour. Response monitoring involves evaluating the consequences of behaviour and making adjustments to optimize outcomes. Deficiencies in this function, and abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) on which it relies, have been reported as contributing factors to autistic disorders. We investigated whether ACC structure and function during response monitoring were associated with repetitive behaviour in ASD. We compared ACC activation to correct and erroneous antisaccades using rapid presentation event-related functional MRI in 14 control and ten ASD participants. Because response monitoring is the product of coordinated activity in ACC networks, we also examined the microstructural integrity of the white matter (WM) underlying this brain region using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) in 12 control and 12 adult ASD participants. ACC activation and FA were examined in relation to Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised ratings of restricted and repetitive behaviour. Relative to controls, ASD participants: (i) made more antisaccade errors and responded more quickly on correct trials; (ii) showed reduced discrimination between error and correct responses in rostral ACC (rACC), which was primarily due to (iii) abnormally increased activation on correct trials and (iv) showed reduced FA in WM underlying ACC. Finally, in ASD (v) increased activation on correct trials and reduced FA in rACC WM were related to higher ratings of repetitive behaviour. These findings demonstrate functional and structural abnormalities of the ACC in ASD that may contribute to repetitive behaviour. rACC activity following errors is thought to reflect affective appraisal of the error. Thus, the hyperactive rACC response to correct trials can be interpreted as a misleading affective signal that something is awry, which may trigger repetitive attempts at correction. Another possible consequence of reduced affective discrimination between error and correct responses is that it might interfere with the reinforcement of responses that optimize outcomes. Furthermore, dysconnection of the ACC, as suggested by reduced FA, to regions involved in behavioural control might impair on-line modulations of response speed to optimize performance (i.e. speed-accuracy trade-off) and increase error likelihood. These findings suggest that in ASD, structural and functional abnormalities of the ACC compromise response monitoring and thereby contribute to behaviour that is rigid and repetitive rather than flexible and responsive to contingencies. Illuminating the mechanisms and clinical significance of abnormal response monitoring in ASD represents a fruitful avenue for further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharine N Thakkar
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
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42
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Franke C, Arndt D, Ploner CJ, Heinz A, Reuter B. Saccade generation and suppression in schizophrenia: effects of response switching and perseveration. Psychophysiology 2008; 45:698-704. [PMID: 18513361 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00671.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Poor antisaccade performance is a reliable index of action control deficits in schizophrenia. To further elucidate the underlying cognitive impairments, the current study aimed to confirm effects of switching the response direction on saccadic performance and to investigate whether response switch effects relate to perseveration. Fourteen schizophrenia patients and 14 healthy controls performed sequences of 1 to 3 simple volitional saccades to one direction and a subsequent volitional saccade with distractor to the same or the opposite direction. Response switches increased error rates in schizophrenia if they followed 3 saccades to the opposite side, suggesting that response switching affects performance on conditions of strong persisting response programs. The increase of response switch error rates with multiple repetitions of the prior response points to a relationship between perseveration and response selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosima Franke
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
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43
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The relation between antisaccade errors, fixation stability and prosaccade errors in schizophrenia. Exp Brain Res 2007; 186:273-82. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-007-1235-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2006] [Accepted: 11/21/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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44
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Kim H, Lee D, Shin YM, Chey J. Impaired strategic decision making in schizophrenia. Brain Res 2007; 1180:90-100. [PMID: 17905200 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2007.08.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2007] [Revised: 08/14/2007] [Accepted: 08/22/2007] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive decision making in dynamic social settings requires frequent re-evaluation of choice outcomes and revision of strategies. This requires an array of multiple cognitive abilities, such as working memory and response inhibition. Thus, the disruption of such abilities in schizophrenia can have significant implications for social dysfunctions in affected patients. In the present study, 20 schizophrenia patients and 20 control subjects completed two computerized binary decision-making tasks. In the first task, the participants played a competitive zero-sum game against a computer in which the predictable choice behavior was penalized and the optimal strategy was to choose the two targets stochastically. In the second task, the expected payoffs of the two targets were fixed and unaffected by the subject's choices, so the optimal strategy was to choose the target with the higher expected payoff exclusively. The schizophrenia patients earned significantly less money during the first task, even though their overall choice probabilities were not significantly different from the control subjects. This was mostly because patients were impaired in integrating the outcomes of their previous choices appropriately in order to maintain the optimal strategy. During the second task, the choices of patients and control subjects displayed more similar patterns. This study elucidated the specific components in strategic decision making that are impaired in schizophrenia. The deficit, which can be characterized as strategic stiffness, may have implications for the poor social adjustment in schizophrenia patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyojin Kim
- Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, San 56-1 Shillim-dong Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
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45
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Manoach DS, Ketwaroo GA, Polli FE, Thakkar KN, Barton JJS, Goff DC, Fischl B, Vangel M, Tuch DS. Reduced microstructural integrity of the white matter underlying anterior cingulate cortex is associated with increased saccadic latency in schizophrenia. Neuroimage 2007; 37:599-610. [PMID: 17590354 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.04.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2007] [Revised: 03/28/2007] [Accepted: 04/28/2007] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key component of a network that directs both spatial attention and saccadic eye movements, which are tightly linked. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has demonstrated reduced microstructural integrity of the anterior cingulum bundle as indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA) in schizophrenia, but the functional significance of these abnormalities is unclear. Using DTI, we examined the white matter underlying anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia to determine whether reduced FA is associated with prolonged latencies of volitional saccades. Seventeen chronic, medicated schizophrenia outpatients and nineteen healthy controls had high-resolution DTI scans. FA maps were registered to structural scans and mapped across participants using a surface-based coordinate system. Cingulate white matter was divided into rostral and dorsal anterior regions and a posterior region. Patients showed reduced FA in cingulate white matter of the right hemisphere. Reduced FA in the white matter underlying anterior cingulate cortex, frontal eye field, and posterior parietal cortex of the right hemisphere was associated with longer saccadic latencies in schizophrenia, though given the relatively small sample size, these relations warrant replication. These findings demonstrate that in schizophrenia, increased latency of volitional saccades is associated with reduced microstructural integrity of the white matter underlying key cortical components of a right-hemisphere dominant network for visuospatial attention and ocular motor control. Moreover, they suggest that anterior cingulate white matter abnormalities contribute to slower performance of volitional saccades and to inter-individual variability of saccadic latency in chronic, medicated schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dara S Manoach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
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46
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Franke C, Reuter B, Schulz L, Kathmann N. Schizophrenia patients show impaired response switching in saccade tasks. Biol Psychol 2007; 76:91-9. [PMID: 17698280 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2006] [Revised: 06/27/2007] [Accepted: 06/28/2007] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Action control deficits of schizophrenia patients result from frontostriatal brain abnormalities and presumably reflect an impairment of selective cognitive processes. This study aimed at dissociating two different levels of action control in saccades toward and away from visual stimuli (pro- and antisaccades). Results of previous studies suggested that task switch effects (between pro- and antisaccades) reflect the persistence of a task-specific production rule and refer to the level of task selection, whereas response switch effects (between leftward and rightward saccades) point to the persistence of a specific response program, referring to the level of response selection. In the present study, task switching and response switching were investigated in 20 schizophrenia patients and 20 control subjects. Groups did not differ concerning task switch effects. In contrast, response switching entailed a stronger enhancement of error rates in patients, suggesting a specific deficit on the level of response selection in schizophrenia. The deficit was associated with spatial working memory capacities, confirming and specifying existing hypotheses on a relationship between working memory and action control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosima Franke
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Psychologie, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
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47
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Cameron IGM, Watanabe M, Munoz DP. Contrasting instruction change with response change in task switching. Exp Brain Res 2007; 182:233-48. [PMID: 17576544 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-007-0983-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2006] [Accepted: 05/15/2007] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Switching between two tasks results in switch costs, which are increased error rates and response times in comparison to repeating a task. Switch costs are attributed to a change in task set, which is the internalized rule of how to respond to a stimulus. However, it is not clear if this is because the instruction about which task to perform has changed, or because a programmed response has changed. We examined this question by changing the instruction about whether to perform a pro or an antisaccade to a stimulus, before or after the stimulus was presented. As a saccade response is specified by instruction plus stimulus position, changing the instruction after the stimulus was present resulted in a change in the specified response, whereas changing the instruction beforehand did not. Three experiments investigated; (i) if changing instruction alone or changing the specified response produced switch costs; (ii) if predictability of switching instruction influenced switch costs; and (iii) if predictability of stimulus position influenced switch costs. Regardless of instruction or stimulus predictability, switch costs for both pro and antisaccades consistently resulted if the specified response switched. This suggests that a pro or antisaccade motor program was automatically programmed based on a presented instruction and stimulus position. Therefore, the given physical information drove switch costs, even if subjects could predict a change in task. This study demonstrates that switch costs result if changing an instruction changes a programmed response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian G M Cameron
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, K7L 3N6 Kingston, ON, Canada
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Greenzang C, Manoach DS, Goff DC, Barton JJS. Task-switching in schizophrenia: active switching costs and passive carry-over effects in an antisaccade paradigm. Exp Brain Res 2007; 181:493-502. [PMID: 17486327 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-007-0946-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2007] [Accepted: 03/29/2007] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
It has been hypothesized that impaired task-switching underlies some of the behavioural deficits in schizophrenia. However, task-switching involves many cognitive operations. In this study our goal was to isolate the effects on latency and accuracy that can be attributed to specific task-switch processes, by studying the inter-trial effects in blocks of randomly mixed prosaccades and antisaccades. By varying the preparatory interval between an instructional cue and the target, we assessed the costs of both (1) an active reconfiguration process that was triggered by the cue, and (2) passive carry-over effects persisting from the prior trial. We tested 15 schizophrenic subjects and 14 matched controls. A very short preparatory interval increased error rates and saccadic latencies in both groups, but more so in schizophrenia, suggesting difficulty in rapidly activating saccadic goals. However, the contrast between repeated and switched trials showed that the costs of task switching in schizophrenia were not significantly different from the controls, at either short or long preparatory intervals, for both antisaccades and prosaccades. These results confirm prior observations that passive carry-over effects are normal in schizophrenia, and show that active reconfiguration is also normal in this disorder. Thus problems with executive control in schizophrenia may not affect specific task-switching operations.
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Hunt AR, Ishigami Y, Klein RM. Eye movements, not hypercompatible mappings, are critical for eliminating the cost of task set reconfiguration. Psychon Bull Rev 2007; 13:923-7. [PMID: 17328396 DOI: 10.3758/bf03194020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Residual switch costs are notoriously difficult to eliminate. Yet Hunt and Klein (2002) eliminated them in a task that required observers to alternate between 8 trials of prosaccades and 8 trials of antisaccades, as long as there was at least 1 sec between the task cue and the onset of the saccade target. It was proposed that the elimination of residual switch costs occurred because prosaccade responses are computed very rapidly. These so-called hypercompatible responses bypass memory retrieval stages of the response process, thereby eliminating the source of residual switch costs. Here we tested this hypothesis by requiring observers to alternate between responding with the finger that was vibrated (another task that meets the criteria for hypercompatibility) and responding with the finger of the opposite hand. Residual switch costs were not eliminated, suggesting that their elimination in Hunt and Klein (2002) was due to special properties of the prosaccade-antisaccade task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia R Hunt
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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Manoach DS, Thakkar KN, Cain MS, Polli FE, Edelman JA, Fischl B, Barton JJS. Neural activity is modulated by trial history: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of the effects of a previous antisaccade. J Neurosci 2007; 27:1791-8. [PMID: 17301186 PMCID: PMC6673726 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3662-06.2007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Saccadic latencies are influenced by what occurred during the previous trial. When the previous trial is an antisaccade, the latencies of both prosaccades and antisaccades are prolonged. The aim of this study was to identify neural correlates of this intertrial effect of antisaccades. Specifically, based on both monkey electrophysiology and human neuroimaging findings, we expected trials preceded by antisaccades to be associated with reduced frontal eye field (FEF) activity relative to those preceded by prosaccades. Twenty-one healthy participants performed pseudorandom sequences of prosaccade and antisaccade trials during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with concurrent monitoring of eye position. We compared activity in trials preceded by an antisaccade with activity in trials preceded by a prosaccade. The primary result was that a previous antisaccade prolonged saccadic latency and reduced fMRI activity in the FEF and other regions. No regions showed increased activity. We interpret the reduced FEF activity and slower saccadic responses to reflect inhibitory influences on the response system as a consequence of performing an antisaccade in the previous trial. This demonstrates that neural activity is modulated by trial history, consistent with a rapid, dynamic form of learning. More generally, these results highlight the importance of trial history as a source of variability in both behavioral and neuroimaging studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dara S Manoach
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
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