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Li Z, Zhao S, Yang J, Murai T, Funahashi S, Wu J, Zhang Z. Is P3 amplitude associated with greater gaze distraction effect in schizotypy? Schizophr Res 2024; 267:422-431. [PMID: 38640853 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
A recently proposed "Hyperfocusing hypothesis" suggests that schizotypy is associated with a more narrow but more intense way of allocating attention. The current study aims to test a vital prediction of this hypothesis in a social context, that schizotypy may be related to greater difficulty overcoming the distracting effects of gaze. This could cause a longer time to respond to targets that are invalidly cued by gaze. The current study tested this prediction in a modified Posner cueing paradigm by using P3 as an indicator for attentional resources. Seventy-four young healthy individuals with different levels of schizotypy were included, they were asked to detect the location of a target that was cued validly or invalidly by the gaze and head orientation. The results revealed that (a) schizotypy is associated with hyperfocusing on gaze direction, leading to greater difficulty overcoming the distracting effect of gaze. The higher the trait-schizotypy score, the more time needed to respond to targets that were invalidly cued by gaze (b) schizotypy is associated with reduced P3 which is directed by social communicative stimuli. The higher the trait-schizotypy score, the smaller the amplitude of P3 (c) the relationship between schizotypal traits and response times of the gaze-invalid condition is fully intermediated by P3. The findings of the current study suggest the P3 component may be a crucial neural mechanism underlying joint attention deficits in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zimo Li
- Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan; Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Shuo Zhao
- School of Psychology, ShenZhen University, ShenZhen, GuangDong, China.
| | - Jiajia Yang
- Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
| | - Toshiya Murai
- Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Shintaro Funahashi
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Jinglong Wu
- Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan; Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Zhilin Zhang
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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Luo Y, Yu Y, He H, Fan N. Acute ketamine induces neuronal hyperexcitability and deficits in prepulse inhibition by upregulating IL-6. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2024; 130:110913. [PMID: 38103855 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Acute ketamine administration results in psychotic symptoms similar to those observed in schizophrenia and is regarded as a pharmacological model of schizophrenia. Accumulating evidence suggests that patients with schizophrenia show increased IL-6 levels in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid and that IL-6 levels are associated with the severity of psychotic symptoms. In the present study, we found that a single ketamine exposure led to increased expression of IL-6 and IL-6Rα, decreased dendritic spine density, increased expression and currents of T-type calcium channels, and increased neuron excitability in the hippocampal CA1 area 12 h after exposure. Acute ketamine administration also led to impaired prepulse inhibition (PPI) 12 h after administration. Additionally, we found that the expression of signaling molecules IKKα/β, NF-κB, JAK2, and STAT3 was upregulated 12 h after a single ketamine injection. The decreases in dendritic spine density, the increases in calcium currents and neuron excitability, and the impairments in PPI were ameliorated by blocking IL-6 or IL-6Rα. Our findings show that blocking IL-6 or its receptor may protect hippocampal neurons from hyperexcitability, thereby ameliorating ketamine-induced psychotic effects. Our study provides additional evidence that targeting IL-6 and its receptor is a potential strategy for treating psychotic symptoms in acute ketamine-induced psychosis and schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yayan Luo
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510370, China
| | - Yang Yu
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510370, China
| | - Hongbo He
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510370, China
| | - Ni Fan
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510370, China.
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Li J, Zhong BL, Zhou D, Fu Y, Huang X, Chen L, Liu H, Zheng J, Tang E, Li Y, Guan C, Shen M, Chen H. The dynamic process of hyperfocusing and hyperfiltering in schizophrenia. NATURE MENTAL HEALTH 2024; 2:367-378. [DOI: 10.1038/s44220-024-00211-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/01/2024]
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An SJ, Choi S, Hwang JS, Park S, Jang M, Kim M, Kwon JS. Aberrant hyperfocusing in schizophrenia indicated by elevated theta phase-gamma amplitude coupling. Clin Neurophysiol 2024; 157:88-95. [PMID: 38064931 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate electroencephalographic (EEG) markers of aberrant hyperfocusing, a novel framework of impaired selective attention, in schizophrenia patients by using theta phase-gamma amplitude coupling (TGC). METHODS Fifty-four schizophrenia patients and 73 healthy controls (HCs) underwent EEG recording during an auditory oddball paradigm. For the standard and target conditions, TGC was calculated using the source signals from 25 brain regions of interest (ROIs) related to attention networks and sensory processing; TGC values were then compared across groups and conditions using two-way analysis of covariance. Correlations of altered TGC with performance on the Trail Making Test Parts A and B (TMT-A/B), were explored. RESULTS Compared to HCs, schizophrenia patients showed elevated TGC in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus in the standard condition but not in the target condition. Correlation analyses revealed that the TGC in the left IFG was positively correlated with the TMT-A/B completion times. CONCLUSIONS Aberrant hyperfocusing, as reflected by elevated TGC in attention-related brain regions, was related to behavioral performance on the TMT-A/B in schizophrenia patients. SIGNIFICANCE This study suggests that TGC is a electrophysiological marker for aberrant hyperfocusing of attentional processes that may result in cognitive impairments in schizophrenia patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su-Jin An
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunah Choi
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Seo Hwang
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunghyun Park
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Moonyoung Jang
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Minah Kim
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jun Soo Kwon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Gaspelin N, Lamy D, Egeth HE, Liesefeld HR, Kerzel D, Mandal A, Müller MM, Schall JD, Schubö A, Slagter HA, Stilwell BT, van Moorselaar D. The Distractor Positivity Component and the Inhibition of Distracting Stimuli. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1693-1715. [PMID: 37677060 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
There has been a long-lasting debate about whether salient stimuli, such as uniquely colored objects, have the ability to automatically distract us. To resolve this debate, it has been suggested that salient stimuli do attract attention but that they can be suppressed to prevent distraction. Some research supporting this viewpoint has focused on a newly discovered ERP component called the distractor positivity (PD), which is thought to measure an inhibitory attentional process. This collaborative review summarizes previous research relying on this component with a specific emphasis on how the PD has been used to understand the ability to ignore distracting stimuli. In particular, we outline how the PD component has been used to gain theoretical insights about how search strategy and learning can influence distraction. We also review alternative accounts of the cognitive processes indexed by the PD component. Ultimately, we conclude that the PD component is a useful tool for understanding inhibitory processes related to distraction and may prove to be useful in other areas of study related to cognitive control.
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Lunn J, Berggren N, Ward J, Forster S. Irrelevant sights and sounds require spatial suppression: ERP evidence. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14181. [PMID: 36114739 PMCID: PMC10078104 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Both real-world experience and behavioral laboratory research suggest that entirely irrelevant stimuli (distractors) can interfere with a primary task. However, it is as yet unknown whether such interference reflects competition for spatial attention - indeed, prominent theories of attention predict that this should not be the case. Whilst electrophysiological indices of spatial capture and spatial suppression have been well-investigated, experiments have primarily utilized distractors which share a degree of task-relevance with targets, and are limited to the visual domain. The present research measured behavioral and ERP responses to test the ability of salient yet entirely task-irrelevant visual and auditory distractors to compete for spatial attention during a visual task, while also testing for potentially enhanced competition from multisensory distractors. Participants completed a central letter search task, while ignoring lateralized visual (e.g., image of a dog), auditory (e.g., barking), or multisensory (e.g., image + barking) distractors. Results showed that visual and multisensory distractors elicited a PD component indicative of active lateralized suppression. We also establish for the first time an auditory analog of the PD component, the PAD , elicited by auditory and multisensory distractors. Interestingly, there was no evidence to suggest enhanced ability of multisensory distractors to compete for attentional selection, despite previous proposals of a "special" saliency status for such items. Our findings hence suggest that irrelevant multisensory and unisensory distractors are similarly capable of eliciting a spatial "attend-to-me" signal - a precursor of spatial attentional capture - but at least in the present data set did not elicit full spatial attentional capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Lunn
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Nick Berggren
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jamie Ward
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Sophie Forster
- School of Psychology and Sussex Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
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Abstract
Attention is clearly a core area of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, but the concept of "attention" is complex and multifaceted. This chapter focuses on three different aspects of attentional function that are of particular interest in schizophrenia. First, we discuss the evidence that schizophrenia involves a reduction in global alertness, leading to an inward focusing of attention and a neglect of external stimuli and tasks. Second, we discuss the control of attention, the set of processes that allow general goals to be translated into shifts of attention toward task-relevant information. When a goal is adequately represented, people with schizophrenia often show no deficit in using the goal to direct attention in the visual modality unless challenged by stimuli that strongly activate the magnocellular processing pathway. Finally, we discuss the implementation of selection, the processes that boost relevant information and suppress distractors once attention has been directed to a given source of information. Although early evidence indicated an impairment in selection, more recent evidence indicating that people with schizophrenia actually focus their attention more narrowly and more intensely that healthy individuals (hyperfocusing). However, this hyperfocused attention may be directed toward goal-irrelevant information, creating the appearance of impaired attentional filtering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven J Luck
- Department of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - James M Gold
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Hare SM. Hallucinations: A Functional Network Model of How Sensory Representations Become Selected for Conscious Awareness in Schizophrenia. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:733038. [PMID: 34887720 PMCID: PMC8650055 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.733038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Hallucinations are conscious perception-like experiences that are a common symptom of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Current neuroscience evidence suggests several brain areas are involved in the generation of hallucinations including the sensory cortex, insula, putamen, and hippocampus. But how does activity in these regions give rise to aberrant conscious perceptions that seemingly invade ongoing conscious experience? Most existing models assume that sensory representations are sometimes spontaneously activated in the brain, and that these spontaneous activations somehow play a causal role in the generation of hallucinations. Yet, it remains unclear how these representations become selected for conscious processing. No existing theory of hallucinations has specified such a “selection mechanism.” Global Workspace (GW) theorists argue that the brain’s interconnected processors select relevant piece(s) of information for broadcasting to other brain processors, rendering the information accessible to consciousness; this process known as “ignition” is associated with synchronized activity across distributed cortical and subcortical brain regions. Yet, it remains unclear how certain information and representations become selected for conscious processing. While GW theorists maintain that attention plays an important role, they have not delineated a formal “selection mechanism.” This paper specifies a selection mechanism based upon two central hypotheses: (1) a functional network called the “salience network” plays a critical role in selecting sensory representations for conscious broadcast to the GW in normal (healthy) perception; (2) sensory representations become abnormally selected for conscious broadcast to the GW (instead of being filtered out of consciousness) in individuals with SSD that experience hallucinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie M Hare
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
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9
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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-CLINICAL 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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Attentional control measured in 22q youth and typically developing control group. Differences in attentional control indexed by N2pc and PD event-related potentials. 22q youth exhibited sustained focus on distractor cues and reduced suppression. No relationships between attentional control and psychosis-proneness in 22q youth.
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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Zhao YJ, Ma T, Zhang L, Ran X, Zhang RY, Ku Y. Atypically larger variability of resource allocation accounts for visual working memory deficits in schizophrenia. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009544. [PMID: 34748538 PMCID: PMC8601612 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Working memory (WM) deficits have been widely documented in schizophrenia (SZ), and almost all existing studies attributed the deficits to decreased capacity as compared to healthy control (HC) subjects. Recent developments in WM research suggest that other components, such as precision, also mediate behavioral performance. It remains unclear how different WM components jointly contribute to deficits in schizophrenia. We measured the performance of 60 SZ (31 females) and 61 HC (29 females) in a classical delay-estimation visual working memory (VWM) task and evaluated several influential computational models proposed in basic science of VWM to disentangle the effect of various memory components. We show that the model assuming variable precision (VP) across items and trials is the best model to explain the performance of both groups. According to the VP model, SZ exhibited abnormally larger variability of allocating memory resources rather than resources or capacity per se. Finally, individual differences in the resource allocation variability predicted variation of symptom severity in SZ, highlighting its functional relevance to schizophrenic pathology. This finding was further verified using distinct visual features and subject cohorts. These results provide an alternative view instead of the widely accepted decreased-capacity theory and highlight the key role of elevated resource allocation variability in generating atypical VWM behavior in schizophrenia. Our findings also shed new light on the utility of Bayesian observer models to characterize mechanisms of mental deficits in clinical neuroscience. Working memory is a core cognitive function related to a broad range of cognitive domains such as problem-solving, attention, executive control, and IQ. Although working memory deficits have been well-documented in schizophrenia, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Conventional working memory theories attribute working memory deficits in schizophrenia to their reduced memory capacity, overlooking the potential roles of other memory components, such as precision. In this study, we take the approach of computational psychiatry and use computational modeling to uncover the major determinants of working memory deficits. We assess working memory performance of a large cohort of participants (60 schizophrenia patients and 61 demographic matched healthy controls) and evaluate multiple mainstream computational models of visual working memory. The variable precision model turns out to be the best model for both groups. We further find that the poorer performance of schizophrenia patients arises from heterogeneous distribution of memory resources when encoding items in memory. This resource allocation variability can also predict symptom severity in schizophrenia. Our study highlights the use of computational models in psychiatric researches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Jie Zhao
- Center for Brain and Mental Well-being, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Tianye Ma
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Li Zhang
- Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Xuemei Ran
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ru-Yuan Zhang
- Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- * E-mail: (R-YZ); (YK)
| | - Yixuan Ku
- Center for Brain and Mental Well-being, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Peng Cheng Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
- * E-mail: (R-YZ); (YK)
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Hahn B, Robinson BM, Kiat JE, Geng J, Bansal S, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Impaired Filtering and Hyperfocusing: Neural Evidence for Distinct Selective Attention Abnormalities in People with Schizophrenia. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1950-1964. [PMID: 34546344 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Although schizophrenia is classically thought to involve impaired attentional filtering, people with schizophrenia (PSZ) exhibit a more intense and more exclusive attentional focus than healthy control subjects (HCS) in many tasks. To resolve this contradiction, this functional magnetic resonance imaging study tested the impact of attentional control demands on the modulation of stimulus-induced activation in the fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area when participants (43 PSZ and 43 HCS) were looking for a target face versus house. Stimuli were presented individually, or as face-house overlays that challenged attentional control. Responses were slower for house than face stimuli and when prioritizing houses over faces in overlays, suggesting a difference in salience. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity reflected poorer attentional selectivity in PSZ than HCS when attentional control was challenged most, that is, when stimuli were overlaid and the task required detecting the lower-salience house target. By contrast, attentional selectivity was exaggerated in PSZ when control was challenged least, that is, when stimuli were presented sequentially and the task required detecting the higher-salience face target. These findings are consistent with 2 distinct attentional abnormalities in schizophrenia leading to impaired and exaggerated selection under different conditions: attentional control deficits, and hyperfocusing once attention has been directed toward a stimulus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta Hahn
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - John E Kiat
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Joy Geng
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Sonia Bansal
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - Steven J Luck
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - James M Gold
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
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12
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Bansal S, Gaspelin N, Robinson BM, Hahn B, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Oculomotor inhibition and location priming in schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 130:651-664. [PMID: 34553960 PMCID: PMC8480515 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is widely thought to involve elevated distractibility, which may reflect a general impairment in top-down inhibitory processes. Schizophrenia also appears to involve increased priming of previously performed actions. Here, we used a highly refined eye-tracking paradigm that makes it possible to concurrently assess distractibility, inhibition, and priming. In both healthy control subjects (HCS, N = 41) and people with schizophrenia (PSZ, N = 46), we found that initial saccades were actually less likely to be directed toward a salient "singleton" distractor than toward less salient distractors, reflecting top-down suppression of the singleton. Remarkably, this oculomotor suppression effect was as strong or stronger in PSZ than in HCS, indicating intact inhibitory control. In addition, saccades were frequently directed to the location of the previous-trial target in both groups, but this priming effect was much stronger in PSZ than in HCS. Indeed, PSZ directed gaze toward the location of the previous-trial target as often as they directed gaze to the location of the current-trial target. These results demonstrate that-at least in the context of visual search-PSZ are no more distractable than HCS and are fully capable of inhibiting salient-but-irrelevant stimuli. However, PSZ do exhibit exaggerated priming, focusing on recently attended locations even when this is not beneficial for goal attainment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Bansal
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Nicholas Gaspelin
- Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
| | - Benjamin M. Robinson
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Steven J. Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| | - James M. Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
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13
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Ashinoff BK, Abu-Akel A. Hyperfocus: the forgotten frontier of attention. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 85:1-19. [PMID: 31541305 PMCID: PMC7851038 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01245-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
'Hyperfocus' is a phenomenon that reflects one's complete absorption in a task, to a point where a person appears to completely ignore or 'tune out' everything else. Hyperfocus is most often mentioned in the context of autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but research into its effect on cognitive and neural functioning is limited. We propose that hyperfocus is a critically important aspect of cognition, particularly with regard to clinical populations, and that it warrants significant investigation. Hyperfocus, though ostensibly self-explanatory, is poorly defined within the literature. In many cases, hyperfocus goes undefined, relying on the assumption that the reader inherently knows what it entails. Thus, there is no single consensus to what constitutes hyperfocus. Moreover, some studies do not refer to hyperfocus by name, but describe processes that may be related. In this paper, we review how hyperfocus (as well as possibly related phenomena) has been defined and measured, the challenges associated with hyperfocus research, and assess how hyperfocus affects both neurotypical and clinical populations. Using this foundation, we provide constructive criticism about previously used methods and analyses. We also propose an operational definition of hyperfocus for researchers to use moving forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon K Ashinoff
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Dr, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
- Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH), School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
| | - Ahmad Abu-Akel
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Quartier UNIL-Mouline, Geopolis, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
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14
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Bansal S, Bae GY, Frankovich K, Robinson BM, Leonard CJ, Gold JM, Luck SJ. Increased repulsion of working memory representations in schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 129:845-857. [PMID: 32881536 PMCID: PMC7606631 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Computational neuroscience models propose that working memory (WM) involves recurrent excitatory feedback loops that maintain firing over time along with lateral inhibition that prevents the spreading of activity to other feature values. In behavioral paradigms, this lateral inhibition appears to cause a repulsion of WM representations away from each other and from other strong sources of input. Recent computational models of schizophrenia have proposed that reduction in the strength of inhibition relative to strength of excitation may underlie impaired cognition, and this leads to the prediction that repulsion effects should be reduced in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (PSZ) relative to healthy control subjects (HCS). We tested this hypothesis in 2 experiments measuring WM repulsion effects. In Experiment 1, 45 PSZ and 32 HCS remembered the location of a single object relative to a centrally presented visual landmark and reported this location after a short delay. The reported location was repelled away from the landmark in both groups, but this repulsion effect was increased rather than decreased in PSZ relative to HCS. In Experiment 2, 41 PSZ and 34 HCS remembered 2 sequentially presented orientations and reported each orientation after a short delay. The reported orientations were biased away from each other in both groups, and this repulsion effect was again more pronounced in PSZ than in HCS. Contrary to the widespread hypothesis of reduced inhibition in schizophrenia, we provide robust evidence from 2 experiments showing that the behavioral performance of PSZ exhibited an exaggeration rather than a reduction of competitive inhibition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Bansal
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center
| | - Gi-Yeul Bae
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University
| | - Kyle Frankovich
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| | | | | | - James M. Gold
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center
| | - Steven J. Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
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15
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Lin YX, Zhang LJ, Ying L, Zhou Q. Cognitive effort-avoidance in patients with schizophrenia can reflect Amotivation: an event-related potential study. BMC Psychiatry 2020; 20:344. [PMID: 32611333 PMCID: PMC7329480 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-020-02744-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Amotivation is regarded as a core negative symptom in patients with schizophrenia. There are currently no objective methods for assessing and measuring amotivation in the scientific literature, only a trend towards assessing motivation using effort-orientated, decision-making tasks. However, it remains inconclusive as to whether cognitive effort-avoidance in patients with schizophrenia can reflect their amotivation. Therefore, this study aimed to find out whether cognitive effort-avoidance in patients with schizophrenia can reflect their amotivation. METHODS In total, 28 patients with schizophrenia and 27 healthy controls were selected as participants. The demand selection task (DST) was adapted according to the feedback-based Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) delayed response paradigm, which was combined with the mean amplitude of contingent negative variation (CNV), considered as the criterion of motivation. RESULTS Our results showed that: (1) patients with schizophrenia showed a lower CNV amplitude for the target stimuli compared to the probe stimuli, whereas the control group showed the opposite trend (P < 0.05); (2) among patients with schizophrenia, the high cognitive effort-avoidance group showed a smaller CNV amplitude for the target stimuli compared to the probe stimuli, whereas the low cognitive effort avoidance group showed a higher CNV amplitude for the target stimuli compared to the probe stimuli; the opposite trend was observed in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION These findings support the claim that CNV amplitude can be used as a criterion for detecting amotivation in patients with schizophrenia. Within the context of the DST, the high and low cognitive effort-avoidance of patients with schizophrenia can reflect their state of amotivation; patients with high cognitive effort-avoidance showed severe amotivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y. X. Lin
- grid.268099.c0000 0001 0348 3990Department of Psychology, Wenzhou Medical University, Chashan University Town, Chashan, Wenzhou, 325035 Zhejiang Province China
| | - Li Jun Zhang
- Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Wenzhou Seventh Hospital, Wenzhou, China
| | - Liang Ying
- grid.268099.c0000 0001 0348 3990Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Qiang Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Wenzhou Medical University, Chashan University Town, Chashan, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang Province, China.
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16
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Carment L, Dupin L, Guedj L, Térémetz M, Krebs MO, Cuenca M, Maier MA, Amado I, Lindberg PG. Impaired attentional modulation of sensorimotor control and cortical excitability in schizophrenia. Brain 2020; 142:2149-2164. [PMID: 31099820 PMCID: PMC6598624 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awz127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 01/29/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Impairments in attentional, working memory and sensorimotor processing have been consistently reported in schizophrenia. However, the interaction between cognitive and sensorimotor impairments and the underlying neural mechanisms remains largely uncharted. We hypothesized that altered attentional processing in patients with schizophrenia, probed through saccadic inhibition, would partly explain impaired sensorimotor control and would be reflected as altered task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition. Twenty-five stabilized patients with schizophrenia, 17 unaffected siblings and 25 healthy control subjects were recruited. Subjects performed visuomotor grip force-tracking alone (single-task condition) and with increased cognitive load (dual-task condition). In the dual-task condition, two types of trials were randomly presented: trials with visual distractors (requiring inhibition of saccades) or trials with addition of numbers (requiring saccades and addition). Both dual-task trial types required divided visual attention to the force-tracking target and to the distractor or number. Gaze was measured during force-tracking tasks, and task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition were assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. In the single-task, patients with schizophrenia showed increased force-tracking error. In dual-task distraction trials, force-tracking error increased further in patients, but not in the other two groups. Patients inhibited fewer saccades to distractors, and the capacity to inhibit saccades explained group differences in force-tracking performance. Cortical excitability at rest was not different between groups and increased for all groups during single-task force-tracking, although, to a greater extent in patients (80%) compared to controls (40%). Compared to single-task force-tracking, the dual-task increased cortical excitability in control subjects, whereas patients showed decreased excitability. Again, the group differences in cortical excitability were no longer significant when failure to inhibit saccades was included as a covariate. Cortical inhibition was reduced in patients in all conditions, and only healthy controls increased inhibition in the dual-task. Siblings had similar force-tracking and gaze performance as controls but showed altered task-related modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition in dual-task conditions. In patients, neuropsychological scores of attention correlated with visuomotor performance and with task-dependant modulation of cortical excitability. Disorganization symptoms were greatest in patients with weakest task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability. This study provides insights into neurobiological mechanisms of impaired sensorimotor control in schizophrenia showing that deficient divided visual attention contributes to impaired visuomotor performance and is reflected in impaired modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition. In siblings, altered modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition is consistent with a genetic risk for cortical abnormality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loïc Carment
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France
| | - Lucile Dupin
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France
| | - Laura Guedj
- SHU, Resource Center for Cognitive Remediation and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Université Paris Descartes, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
| | - Maxime Térémetz
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France
| | - Marie-Odile Krebs
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France.,SHU, Resource Center for Cognitive Remediation and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Université Paris Descartes, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
| | - Macarena Cuenca
- SHU, Resource Center for Cognitive Remediation and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Université Paris Descartes, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.,Centre de Recherche Clinique, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.,Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, UMR 8002, CNRS / Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Marc A Maier
- Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France.,Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, UMR 8002, CNRS / Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Department of Life Sciences, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Isabelle Amado
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France.,SHU, Resource Center for Cognitive Remediation and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Université Paris Descartes, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
| | - Påvel G Lindberg
- Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, INSERM U1266, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Institut de Psychiatrie, CNRS GDR3557, Paris, France
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17
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Cortical hyperactivation at low working memory load: A primary processing abnormality in people with schizophrenia? NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 26:102270. [PMID: 32388334 PMCID: PMC7210598 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
A frequent finding when studying substrates of working memory (WM) deficits in people with schizophrenia (PSZ) is task-induced hyperactivation relative to healthy control subjects (HCS) when WM load is low. Hyperactivation accompanying similar performance is commonly attributed to cognitive deficits rendering relatively easy operations more resource-consuming. To test if hyperactivation at low load really is secondary to cognitive impairment in PSZ, we re-analyzed functional MRI data showing left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) hyperactivation in PSZ when holding a single color-item in WM. In subgroups matched for the number of items successfully stored in WM (K) by excluding the highest-performing HCS and lowest-performing PSZ, performance was almost identical across all set sizes (1-7). While BOLD activation at the larger set sizes did not differ between groups, PSZ still robustly hyperactivated left PPC when a single item had to be maintained. The same pattern was observed in subgroups matched for model-based estimates of WM capacity or attentional lapse rate. Given that in the K-matched subsamples PSZ performed as well as HCS even in the most challenging load conditions and that no BOLD signal difference was seen at high loads, it is implausible that PSZ over-recruited WM-related neural structures because they were more challenged by maintaining a single item in WM. Instead, the findings are consistent with a primary schizophrenia-related processing abnormality as proposed by the hyperfocusing hypothesis, which suggests that an abnormally narrow but intense focusing of processing resources is central to many aspects of impaired cognition in PSZ.
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18
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Luo C, Ding N. Visual target detection in a distracting background relies on neural encoding of both visual targets and background. Neuroimage 2020; 216:116870. [PMID: 32339773 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2019] [Revised: 04/11/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to detect visual targets in complex background varies across individuals and are affected by factors such as stimulus saliency and top-down attention. Here, we investigated how the saliency of visual background (naturalistic cartoon video vs. blank screen) and top-down attention (single vs. dual tasks) separately affect individual ability to detect visual targets. Behaviorally, we found that target detection accuracy decreased and reaction time elongated when the background was salient or during dual tasking. The EEG response to visual background was recorded using a novel stimulus tagging technique. This response was strongest in occipital electrodes and was sensitive to background saliency but not dual tasking. In contrast, the event-related potential (ERP) evoked by the visual target was strongest in central electrodes, and was affected by both background saliency and dual tasking. With a cartoon background, the EEG responses to visual targets, presented in the central visual field, and the EEG responses to peripheral visual background could both predict individual target detection performance. When these two responses were combined, better prediction was achieved. These results suggest that neural processing of visual targets and background jointly contribute to individual visual target detection performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Luo
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
| | - Nai Ding
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China; Research Center for Advanced Artificial Intelligence Theory, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, 311121, China.
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19
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Leonard CJ, Robinson BM, Hahn B, Gold JM, Luck SJ. Increased influence of a previously attended feature in people with schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 129:305-311. [PMID: 32212750 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Everyday functioning requires the appropriate allocation of visual attention, which is achieved through multiple mechanisms of attentional guidance. Traditional theories have focused on top-down and bottom-up factors, but implicit learning from recent experience ("selection history") also has a substantial impact on attentional allocation. The present experiment examined the influence of intertrial priming on attentional guidance in people with schizophrenia and matched control subjects. Participants searched for a color pop-out target, which switched randomly between a red target among blue distractors and a blue target among red distractors. We found that performance on the current trial was more influenced by the previous-trial target color in people with schizophrenia than in control subjects. Moreover, this implicit priming effect was greater in individuals with lower working memory capacity (as measured in a separate task). These results suggest that intertrial priming has an exaggerated impact on attentional guidance in people with schizophrenia and that this is associated with other aspects of impaired cognition. Overall, these results are consistent with the hyperfocusing hypothesis, which proposes that a single underlying attentional abnormality may explain a range of atypical effects across perception, attention, and cognition in schizophrenia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind and Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
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20
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Bae GY, Leonard CJ, Hahn B, Gold JM, Luck SJ. Assessing the information content of ERP signals in schizophrenia using multivariate decoding methods. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 25:102179. [PMID: 31954988 PMCID: PMC6965722 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Revised: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
This study took multivariate decoding methods that are widely used to assess the nature of neural representations in neurotypical people and applied them to a comparison of people with schizophrenia and matched control subjects. Participants performed a visual working memory task that required remembering 1–5 items from one side of the display and ignoring an equal number of items on the other side of the display. We attempted to decode which side was being held in working memory from the scalp distribution of the ERP activity during the delay period of the working memory task, and we found greater decoding accuracy in people with schizophrenia than in control subjects when a single item was being held in memory. These results support the hyperfocusing hypothesis of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, and they provide an important proof of concept for applying multivariate decoding methods to comparisons of neural representations in psychiatric and non-psychiatric populations.
Multivariate pattern classification (decoding) methods are commonly employed to study mechanisms of neurocognitive processing in typical individuals, where they can be used to quantify the information that is present in single-participant neural signals. These decoding methods are also potentially valuable in determining how the representation of information differs between psychiatric and non-psychiatric populations. Here, we examined ERPs from people with schizophrenia (PSZ) and healthy control subjects (HCS) in a working memory task that involved remembering 1, 3, or 5 items from one side of the display and ignoring the other side. We used the spatial pattern of ERPs to decode which side of the display was being held in working memory. One might expect that decoding accuracy would be inevitably lower in PSZ as a result of increased noise (i.e., greater trial-to-trial variability). However, we found that decoding accuracy was greater in PSZ than in HCS at memory load 1, consistent with previous research in which memory-related ERP signals were larger in PSZ than in HCS at memory load 1. We also observed that decoding accuracy was strongly related to the ratio of the memory-related ERP activity and the noise level. In addition, we found similar noise levels in PSZ and HCS, counter to the expectation that PSZ would exhibit greater trial-to-trial variability. Together, these results demonstrate that multivariate decoding methods can be validly applied at the individual-participant level to understand the nature of impaired cognitive function in a psychiatric population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gi-Yeul Bae
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister Ave, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
| | - Carly J Leonard
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado - Denver, USA
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and School of Medicine, University of Maryland, USA
| | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and School of Medicine, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California - Davis, USA
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Luck SJ, Hahn B, Leonard CJ, Gold JM. The Hyperfocusing Hypothesis: A New Account of Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2019; 45:991-1000. [PMID: 31317191 PMCID: PMC6737469 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Impairments in basic cognitive processes such as attention and working memory are commonly observed in people with schizophrenia and are predictive of long-term outcome. In this review, we describe a new theory-the hyperfocusing hypothesis-which provides a unified account of many aspects of impaired cognition in schizophrenia. This hypothesis proposes that schizophrenia involves an abnormally narrow but intense focusing of processing resources. This hyperfocusing impairs the ability of people with schizophrenia to distribute attention among multiple locations, decreases the number of representations that can simultaneously be maintained in working memory, and causes attention to be abnormally captured by irrelevant inputs that share features with active representations. Evidence supporting the hyperfocusing hypothesis comes from a variety of laboratory tasks and from both behavioral and electrophysiological measures of processing. In many of these tasks, people with schizophrenia exhibit supranormal effects of task manipulations, which cannot be explained by a generalized cognitive deficit or by nonspecific factors such as reduced motivation or poor task comprehension. In addition, the degree of hyperfocusing in these tasks is often correlated with the degree of impairment in measures of broad cognitive function, which are known to be related to long-term outcome. Thus, the mechanisms underlying hyperfocusing may be a good target for new treatments targeting cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
| | - Carly J Leonard
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO
| | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
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Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that schizophrenia involves hyperfocusing, an unusually narrow but intense focusing of processing resources. This appears to contradict the classic idea that schizophrenia involves an impairment in the ability to focus on relevant information and filter irrelevant information. Here, we review one set of studies suggesting that attentional filtering is impaired in people with schizophrenia and another set of studies suggesting that attentional filtering is unimpaired or even enhanced in these individuals. Considerable evidence supports both conclusions, and we propose 3 potential ways of reconciling the conflicting evidence. First, impaired attentional filtering may occur primarily during periods of active psychosis, with hyperfocusing being a part of the broad pattern of cognitive impairment that persists independent of the level of positive symptoms. Second, schizophrenia may involve hyperfocusing in the visual modality and impaired attentional filtering in the auditory modality. Third, attention may be directed toward irrelevant inputs as a result of impaired executive control, and hyperfocusing on those inputs may be functionally equivalent to a failure of attentional filtering. Given the widespread clinical observations and first-person reports of impaired attentional filtering in schizophrenia, it will be important for future research to test these possibilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA,To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: 530-297-4424, fax: 530-754-4500, e-mail:
| | - Carly J Leonard
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
| | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
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Leonard CJ, Robinson BM, Hahn B, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Altered spatial profile of distraction in people with schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 126:1077-1086. [PMID: 29154568 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Attention is critical for effective processing of incoming information and has long been identified as a potential area of dysfunction in people with schizophrenia (PSZ). In the realm of visual processing, both spatial attention and feature-based attention are involved in biasing selection toward task-relevant stimuli and avoiding distraction. Evidence from multiple paradigms has suggested that PSZ may hyperfocus and have a narrower "spotlight" of spatial attention. In contrast, feature-based attention seems largely preserved, with some suggestion of increased processing of stimuli sharing the target-defining feature. In the current study, we examined the spatial profile of feature-based distraction using a task in which participants searched for a particular color target and attempted to ignore distractors that varied in distance from the target location and either matched or mismatched the target color. PSZ differed from healthy controls in terms of interference from peripheral distractors that shared the target-color presented 200 ms before a central target. Specifically, PSZ showed an amplified gradient of spatial attention, with increased distraction to near distractors and less interference to far distractors. Moreover, consistent with hyperfocusing, individual differences in this spatial profile were correlated with positive symptoms, such that those with greater positive symptoms showed less distraction by target-colored distractors near the task-relevant location. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| | - James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine
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Spironelli C, Romeo Z, Maffei A, Angrilli A. Comparison of automatic visual attention in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression: Evidence from P1 event-related component. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2019; 73:331-339. [PMID: 30882991 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.12840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Revised: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
AIM The ability to discern commonalities and differences in the neurobiology of functional psychoses represents a key element to unmasking shared vulnerability across different psychiatric conditions. The present study sought to compare the automatic visual attention mechanisms in three psychiatric disorders considered to distribute along the continuum of psychosis severity: schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). To this end, the visual P1 event-related potential component, a cortical correlate of automatic visual attention, was measured during an ecological task based on visual word pair presentation. METHODS Four samples of participants, 18 SCZ, 20 BD, 28 MDD, and 30 healthy controls, were recruited and submitted to the same procedure and stimuli. The P1 evoked by visual word presentation was recorded through a 38-electrode electroencephalography cap. Words were presented on a computer screen serially as pairs, and participants had to decide whether they rhymed or not. RESULTS P1 was larger at posterior sites in SCZ compared with BD, healthy control, and MDD participants. BD patients showed the lowest P1 compared with all other groups. Positive Pearson's correlations were found in SCZ patients between P1 amplitude on left posterior sites and both hallucination severity and worse task performance. CONCLUSION The three investigated psychiatric samples showed different automatic visual attention patterns: SCZ patients exhibited the greatest cognitive impairment correlated with the amplitude of P1, MDD patients revealed a normal component, and BD showed a compensated euthymic response different from results of past literature in untreated patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Spironelli
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,Padua Neuroscience Center, Padua, Italy
| | | | - Antonio Maffei
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Alessandro Angrilli
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.,Padua Neuroscience Center, Padua, Italy.,IN-CNR Institute of Neuroscience CNR, Padua, Italy
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25
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Berkovitch L, Del Cul A, Maheu M, Dehaene S. Impaired conscious access and abnormal attentional amplification in schizophrenia. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2018; 18:835-848. [PMID: 29876269 PMCID: PMC5988039 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2017] [Revised: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Previous research suggests that the conscious perception of a masked stimulus is impaired in schizophrenia, while unconscious bottom-up processing of the same stimulus, as assessed by subliminal priming, can be preserved. Here, we test this postulated dissociation between intact bottom-up and impaired top-down processing and evaluate its brain mechanisms using high-density recordings of event-related potentials. Sixteen patients with schizophrenia and sixteen controls were exposed to peripheral digits with various degrees of visibility, under conditions of either focused attention or distraction by another task. In the distraction condition, the brain activity evoked by masked digits was drastically reduced in both groups, but early bottom-up visual activation could still be detected and did not differ between patients and controls. By contrast, under focused top-down attention, a major impairment was observed: in patients, contrary to controls, the late non-linear ignition associated with the P3 component was reduced. Interestingly, the patients showed an essentially normal attentional amplification of the P1 and N2 components. These results suggest that some but not all top-down attentional amplification processes are impaired in schizophrenia, while bottom-up processing seems to be preserved. An elevated consciousness threshold is observed in schizophrenia. Under unattended conditions, brain activity was similarly reduced in schizophrenic patients and controls. Under attended conditions, the late ignition associated with the P3 component is impaired in patients. In schizophrenia, top-down attentional amplification is abnormal while bottom-up processing is essentially spared.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Berkovitch
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, IFD, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
| | - A Del Cul
- AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Service de Psychiatrie d'Adultes, 75013 Paris, France; Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, 75013 Paris, France
| | - M Maheu
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France
| | - S Dehaene
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
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Hahn B, Reneski CH, Pocivavsek A, Schwarcz R. Prenatal kynurenine treatment in rats causes schizophrenia-like broad monitoring deficits in adulthood. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2018; 235:651-661. [PMID: 29128872 PMCID: PMC5823752 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-017-4780-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Elevated brain kynurenic acid (KYNA) levels are implicated in the pathology and neurodevelopmental pathogenesis of schizophrenia. In rats, embryonic treatment with kynurenine (EKyn) causes elevated brain KYNA levels in adulthood and cognitive deficits reminiscent of schizophrenia. OBJECTIVES Growing evidence suggests that people with schizophrenia have a narrowed attentional focus, and we aimed at establishing whether these abnormalities may be related to KYNA dysregulation. METHODS To test whether EKyn rats display broad monitoring deficits, kynurenine was added to the chow of pregnant Wistar dams on embryonic days 15-22. As adults, 20 EKyn and 20 control rats were trained to stable performance on the five-choice serial reaction time task, requiring the localization of 1-s light stimuli presented randomly across five apertures horizontally arranged along a curved wall, equating the locomotor demands of reaching each hole. RESULTS EKyn rats displayed elevated omission errors and reduced anticipatory responses relative to control rats, indicative of a lower response rate, and showed reduced locomotor activity. The ability to spread attention broadly was measured by parsing performance by stimulus location. Both groups displayed poorer stimulus detection with greater target location eccentricity, but this effect was significantly more pronounced in the EKyn group. Specifically, the groups differed in the spatial distribution of correct but not incorrect responses. This pattern cannot be explained by differences in response rate and is indicative of a narrowed attentional focus. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest a potential etiology of broad monitoring deficits in schizophrenia, which may constitute a core cognitive deficit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta Hahn
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, P.O. Box 21247, Baltimore, MD, 21228, USA.
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Gaspelin N, Luck SJ. The Role of Inhibition in Avoiding Distraction by Salient Stimuli. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:79-92. [PMID: 29191511 PMCID: PMC5742040 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 234] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2017] [Revised: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Researchers have long debated whether salient stimuli can involuntarily 'capture' visual attention. We review here evidence for a recently discovered inhibitory mechanism that may help to resolve this debate. This evidence suggests that salient stimuli naturally attempt to capture attention, but capture can be avoided if the salient stimulus is suppressed before it captures attention. Importantly, the suppression process can be more or less effective as a result of changing task demands or lapses in cognitive control. Converging evidence for the existence of this suppression mechanism comes from multiple sources, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and event-related potentials (ERPs). We conclude that the evidence for suppression is strong, but future research will need to explore the nature and limits of this mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Gaspelin
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, USA.
| | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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Vignapiano A, Mucci A, Merlotti E, Giordano GM, Amodio A, Palumbo D, Galderisi S. Impact of Reward and Loss Anticipation on Cognitive Control: An Event-Related Potential Study in Subjects With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls. Clin EEG Neurosci 2018; 49:46-54. [PMID: 29243531 DOI: 10.1177/1550059417745935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Deficits of cognitive functions and motivation are core aspects of schizophrenia. The interaction of these deficits might contribute to impair the ability to flexibly adjust behavior in accordance with one's intentions and goals. Many studies have focused on the anterior N2 as a correlate of cognitive control based on motivational value. AIMS Given the key role of motivation impairment in schizophrenia as a predictor of functional outcome, we aimed to study the impact of reward- and avoidance-based motivation on cognitive control using N2. METHOD Event-related potentials were recorded during the execution of the "Monetary Incentive Delay (MID)" task in 34 patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) stabilized on second-generation antipsychotics and 22 healthy controls (HC). Cognitive domains were assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery. Negative symptom domains (Avolition/apathy and Expressive deficit), as well as positive and disorganization dimensions were also assessed in SCZ. RESULTS We did not observe any group difference in N2 amplitude or latency. In HC, N2 amplitude was significantly larger for anticipation of large loss with regard to all reward conditions and for all incentive versus neutral conditions. In SCZ, N2 amplitude did not discriminate between large loss and reward or between incentive and neutral conditions. N2 amplitude was not correlated with psychopathological dimensions or MCCB-assessed cognitive deficits in SCZ. CONCLUSION Our data in HC are in line with the hypothesis that N2 amplitude reflects the impact of motivational salience on cognitive control. Our results in SCZ indicate a deficit in the discrimination of motivational salience to the service of cognitive control, independently of psychopathology and other cognitive deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annarita Vignapiano
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Armida Mucci
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Eleonora Merlotti
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Giulia Maria Giordano
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Antonella Amodio
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Davide Palumbo
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
| | - Silvana Galderisi
- 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
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Electrophysiological Evidence for Hyperfocusing of Spatial Attention in Schizophrenia. J Neurosci 2017; 37:3813-3823. [PMID: 28283557 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3221-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2016] [Revised: 01/25/2017] [Accepted: 02/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A recently proposed hyperfocusing hypothesis of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia proposes that people with schizophrenia (PSZ) tend to concentrate processing resources more narrowly but more intensely than healthy control subjects (HCS). The present study tests a key prediction of this hypothesis, namely, that PSZ will hyperfocus on information presented at the center of gaze. This should lead to greater filtering of peripheral stimuli when the task requires focusing centrally but reduced filtering of central stimuli when the task requires attending broadly in the periphery. These predictions were tested in a double oddball paradigm, in which frequent standard stimuli and rare oddball stimuli were presented at central and peripheral locations while event-related potentials were recorded. Participants were instructed to discriminate between the standard and oddball stimuli at either the central location or at the peripheral locations. PSZ and HCS showed opposite patterns of spatial bias at the level of early sensory processing, as assessed with the P1 component: PSZ exhibited stronger sensory suppression of peripheral stimuli when the task required attending narrowly to the central location, whereas HCS exhibited stronger sensory suppression of central stimuli when the task required attending broadly to the peripheral locations. Moreover, PSZ exhibited a stronger stimulus categorization response than HCS, as assessed with the P3b component, for central stimuli when the task required attending to the peripheral region. These results provide strong evidence of hyperfocusing in PSZ, which may provide a unified mechanistic account of multiple aspects of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Schizophrenia clearly involves impaired attention, but attention is complex, and delineating the precise nature of attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia has been difficult. The present study tests a new hyperfocusing hypothesis, which proposes that people with schizophrenia (PSZ) tend to concentrate processing resources more intensely but more narrowly than healthy control subjects (HCS). Using electrophysiological measures of sensory and cognitive processing, we found that PSZ were actually superior to HCS in focusing attention at the point of gaze and filtering out peripheral distractors when the task required a narrow focusing of attention. This finding of superior filtering in PSZ supports the hyperfocusing hypothesis, which may provide the mechanism underlying a broad range of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
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