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Rossetti I, Mariano M, Maravita A, Paulesu E, Zapparoli L. Sense of agency in schizophrenia: A reconciliation of conflicting findings through a theory-driven literature review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 163:105781. [PMID: 38925210 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105781] [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: 03/21/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
The sense of agency is the experience of being the author of self-generated actions and their outcomes. Both clinical manifestations and experimental evidence suggest that the agency experience and the mechanisms underlying agency attribution may be dysfunctional in schizophrenia. Yet, studies investigating the sense of agency in these patients show seemingly conflicting results: some indicated under-attribution of self-agency (coherently with certain positive symptoms), while others suggested over-attribution of self-agency. In this review, we assess whether recent theoretical frameworks can reconcile these divergent results. We examine whether the identification of agency abnormalities in schizophrenia might depend on the measure of self-agency considered (depending on the specific task requirements) and the available agency-related cues. We conclude that all these aspects are relevant to predict and characterize the type of agency misattribution that schizophrenia patients might show. We argue that one particular model, based on the predictive coding theory, can reconcile the interpretation of the multifarious phenomenology of agency manifestations in schizophrenia, paving the way for testing agency disorders in novel ways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ileana Rossetti
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi-Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
| | - Marika Mariano
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi-Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Angelo Maravita
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi-Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Eraldo Paulesu
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi-Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; fMRI Unit, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
| | - Laura Zapparoli
- Department of Psychology and NeuroMi-Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; fMRI Unit, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy.
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Moccia L, di Luzio M, Conte E, Modica M, Ambrosecchia M, Ardizzi M, Lanzotti P, Kotzalidis GD, Janiri D, Di Nicola M, Janiri L, Gallese V, Sani G. Sense of agency and its disturbances: A systematic review targeting the intentional binding effect in neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2024; 78:3-18. [PMID: 37755315 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.13601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
Sense of agency (SoA) indicates a person's ability to perceive her/his own motor acts as actually being her/his and, through them, to exert control over the course of external events. Disruptions in SoA may profoundly affect the individual's functioning, as observed in several neuropsychiatric disorders. This is the first article to systematically review studies that investigated intentional binding (IB), a quantitative proxy for SoA measurement, in neurological and psychiatric patients. Eligible were studies of IB involving patients with neurological and/or psychiatric disorders. We included 15 studies involving 692 individuals. Risk of bias was low throughout studies. Abnormally increased action-outcome binding was found in schizophrenia and in patients with Parkinson's disease taking dopaminergic medications or reporting impulsive-compulsive behaviors. A decreased IB effect was observed in Tourette's disorder and functional movement disorders, whereas increased action-outcome binding was found in patients with the cortico-basal syndrome. The extent of IB deviation from healthy control values correlated with the severity of symptoms in several disorders. Inconsistent effects were found for autism spectrum disorders, anorexia nervosa, and borderline personality disorder. Findings pave the way for treatments specifically targeting SoA in neuropsychiatric disorders where IB is altered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Moccia
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Michelangelo di Luzio
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Eliana Conte
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Modica
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Marianna Ambrosecchia
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Martina Ardizzi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Pierluigi Lanzotti
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Georgios D Kotzalidis
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- NESMOS Department, University of Rome La Sapienza, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - Delfina Janiri
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Di Nicola
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Luigi Janiri
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
- Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Gabriele Sani
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Tan DPW, Carter O, Marshall DR, Perrykkad K. Agency in schizophrenia and autism: a systematic review. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1280622. [PMID: 38187412 PMCID: PMC10768057 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1280622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Previous research suggests that altered experiences of agency are an underlying vulnerability in both schizophrenia and autism. Here, we explore agency as a potential transdiagnostic factor by conducting a systematic review of existing literature investigating agency in autism and schizophrenia individually and together. Methods Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted three systematic searches on PsycINFO, Embase, Medline, PubMed and Web of Science to identify studies that investigated (1) agency in schizophrenia, (2) agency in autism, and (3) agency in both schizophrenia and autism. Results A total of 31 articles met eligibility criteria for inclusion and data extraction, with 24 measuring agency in schizophrenia, 7 investigating agency in autism, and no articles comparing the two. Results show that, compared to control populations, agency is significantly different in every identified schizophrenia study and generally not significantly different in autism. Discussion Importantly, we identified a lack of studies using common tasks and a disproportionate number of studies investigating different dimensions of agency across the two conditions, resulting in limited grounds for valid comparison. Systematic review registration Prospero, CRD42021273373.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise P. W. Tan
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Olivia Carter
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Darcy-Rose Marshall
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Kelsey Perrykkad
- Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Women’s and Children’s Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Kassim FM, Mark Lim JH, Albrecht MA, Martin-Iverson MT. Dexamphetamine influences funneling illusion based on psychometric score. Hum Psychopharmacol 2023; 38:e2862. [PMID: 36799101 DOI: 10.1002/hup.2862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Our team previously showed that like the experience of the rubber hand illusion (RHI) in people with schizophrenia and their offspring¸ dexamphetamine administration to healthy volunteers increases the stimulus binding windows (BWs) in RHI. It is not clear if similar expansions of BWs are present for unimodal illusions. Studies have also shown that subjective or objective effects of amphetamine would be linked to between-person variations in personality measures. Therefore, we aimed to examine the effect of dexamphetamine (DEX), a dopamine-releasing stimulant, on illusory perception using unimodal sensory stimuli (Tactile Funneling Illusion [TFI]) across both temporal and spatial variables. We further examined the relationship between changes in psychometric scores and changes in illusion perception induced by dexamphetamine. METHODS Healthy subjects (N = 20) participated in a randomized, double-blind, counter-balanced, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. The effects of dexamphetamine (0.45 mg/kg, PO, q.d.) on funneling and error of spatial localization (EL) were examined using TFI. Psychotomimetic effects were assessed using a battery of psychological measures. RESULTS Dexamphetamine did not significantly increased the funneling illusion (p = 0.88) or EL (p = 0.5), relative to placebo. However, the degree of change in psychometric scores following dexamphetamine positively correlated with changes in funneling (ρ = 0.48, p = 0.03, n = 20), mainly at 0 ms delay condition (ρ = 0.6, p = 0.004, n = 20). CONCLUSION Unlike multimodal illusions, alteration of BWs does not occur for unimodal illusions after administration of a dopamine-releasing agent. However, our findings indicate that moderate release of dopamine, through its psychotomimetic effect, indirectly influences unimodal illusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faiz M Kassim
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Unit, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - J H Mark Lim
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Unit, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Matthew A Albrecht
- Western Australian Centre for Road Safety Research, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Mathew T Martin-Iverson
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Unit, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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Szymanski HV. Hippocampal dysfunction underlies delusions of control in schizophrenia. Med Hypotheses 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2023.111043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
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Abstract
Recent research suggests that embodiment sensations (sense of body ownership and sense of body agency) are altered in schizophrenia. Using a mirror box illusion setup, we tested if the anomalous embodiment experience depends on deficient processing of visuomotor synchrony, disrupted processing of movement mode, or both. The task required participants to press a lever with their index while looking at the image of the experimenter's hand moving on a similar lever. The illusion of embodiment could arise because looking toward the direction of their own hand the participant saw the reflection of the experimenter's hand visually superimposed to his own one through a mirror. During the illusion induction, we systematically varied visuomotor asynchrony (4 delays were imposed on the movement of the experimenter's hand) and the mode of movement (the participant could perform active vs. passive movements). The strength of the illusion of embodiment of the external hand was assessed with explicit judgments of ownership and agency. Patients' data showed an anomalous modulation of ownership with respect to visuomotor synchrony manipulation and an altered modulation of agency with respect to both visuomotor synchrony and movement mode manipulations. Results from the present study suggest that impairments affecting both the processing of temporal aspects of visuomotor signals and the processing of type of movement underlie anomalous embodiment sensations in schizophrenia. Hypotheses about potential deficits accounting for our results are proposed.
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Evidence for visual temporal order processing below the threshold for conscious perception. Cognition 2020; 207:104528. [PMID: 33296792 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 11/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Correctly discriminating the order of events arising in our environment is a fundamental temporal process that allows us to better understand and interact with our dynamic world. However, if consecutive events are separated by an interval of less than 20-40 ms, we cannot consciously perceive their relative order. Nevertheless, indirect evidence suggests that the sequential order of events separated by less than 20 ms might still be processed subconsciously. In our study, we aimed to provide evidence that temporal order processing can occur below the threshold for conscious perception. We developed a novel paradigm in which participants were instructed that a visual cue, composed of two coloured stimuli appearing in a particular order, would allow them to predict the shape of a subsequent target. The interval between the two stimuli allowed temporal order to be consciously perceived (66 ms interval) or not (17 ms interval), as verified by performance on a separate temporal order judgment task. Performance was compared to a control condition that provided no predictive information. In both experiments, reaction times were faster in the order-cue conditions compared to the control condition, whether the SOA separating events was longer (66 ms) or shorter (17 ms) than the typical temporal order threshold. Therefore, even when participants could not consciously perceive the temporal order of two consecutive stimuli, the relative sequence of events was nevertheless processed and used to optimise performance. These results suggest that temporal order can be processed subconsciously.
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Pirio Richardson S, Triggiani AI, Matsuhashi M, Voon V, Peckham E, Nahab F, Mari Z, Hallett M. Timing of the Sense of Volition in Patients With Schizophrenia. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:574472. [PMID: 33192259 PMCID: PMC7662453 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.574472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenic patients often do not have the sense that they direct their own movements or author their own thoughts (passivity phenomena). As willing must precede movement to be causal and thus generate the sense of agency, it is possible that the timing between the senses of willing and movement is shortened in schizophrenia. We tested the subjective perception of this time interval in patients with schizophrenia using a method based on Libet’s paradigm, in which subjects specify a time W – the time of willing a movement – and a time M – the time that movement occurred. Patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers made voluntary movements at times of their own choice while looking at a fast-rotating clock on a computer screen and reported when their movements were willed and made. We recorded surface electromyography to determine the time of actual movement, and electroencephalography to record brain potentials associated with movement. Results showed a significantly reduced interval between the reported M and W in patients with respect to the healthy volunteers (p < 0.05). Specifically, patients did not report a significant difference in the timing of W at 19 ms prior to movement onset and M at 7.4 ms prior to movement onset (p > 0.05), while the control group experienced a time W at 100 ms prior to movement onset and this differed significantly from their time M at 19 ms prior to movement onset (p < 0.01). These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia do have an altered timing of awareness of action – or an impaired judgment of the sequence of events – and that this might be etiologic in the development of the abnormal sense of agency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Pirio Richardson
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, United States
| | - Antonio I Triggiani
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Masao Matsuhashi
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Human Brain Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Valerie Voon
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Peckham
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Central Texas Neurology Consultants, Round Rock, TX, United States
| | - Fatta Nahab
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Department of Neurosciences, Movement Disorder Center, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Zoltan Mari
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.,Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, NV, United States
| | - Mark Hallett
- Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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Straube B, van Kemenade BM, Kircher T, Schülke R. Transcranial direct current stimulation improves action-outcome monitoring in schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Brain Commun 2020; 2:fcaa151. [PMID: 33543133 PMCID: PMC7850031 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaa151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder often demonstrate impairments in action-outcome monitoring. Passivity phenomena and hallucinations, in particular, have been related to impairments of efference copy-based predictions which are relevant for the monitoring of outcomes produced by voluntary action. Frontal transcranial direct current stimulation has been shown to improve action-outcome monitoring in healthy subjects. However, whether transcranial direct current stimulation can improve action monitoring in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder remains unknown. We investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation can improve the detection of temporal action-outcome discrepancies in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. On 4 separate days, we applied sham or left cathodal/right anodal transcranial direct current stimulation in a randomized order to frontal (F3/F4), parietal (CP3/CP4) and frontoparietal (F3/CP4) areas of 19 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder and 26 healthy control subjects. Action-outcome monitoring was assessed subsequent to 10 min of sham/transcranial direct current stimulation (1.5 mA). After a self-generated (active) or externally generated (passive) key press, subjects were presented with a visual outcome (a dot on the screen), which was presented after various delays (0-417 ms). Participants had to detect delays between the key press and the visual consequence. Symptom subgroups were explored based on the presence or absence of symptoms related to a paranoid-hallucinatory syndrome. In general, delay-detection performance was impaired in the schizophrenia spectrum disorder compared to the healthy control group. Interaction analyses showed group-specific (schizophrenia spectrum disorder versus healthy control group) and symptom-specific (with/without relevant paranoid-hallucinatory symptoms) transcranial direct current stimulation effects. Post hoc tests revealed that frontal transcranial direct current stimulation improved the detection of long delays in active conditions and reduced the proportion of false alarms in undelayed trials of the passive condition in patients. The patients with no or few paranoid-hallucinatory symptoms benefited especially from frontal transcranial direct current stimulation in active conditions, while improvement in the patients with paranoid-hallucinatory symptoms was predominantly reflected in reduced false alarm rates in passive conditions. These data provide some first evidence for the potential utility of transcranial direct current stimulation in improving efference copy mechanisms and action-outcome monitoring in schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Current data indicate that improving efference copy-related processes can be especially effective in patients with no or few positive symptoms, while intersensory matching (i.e. task-relevant in passive conditions) could be more susceptible to improvement in patients with paranoid-hallucinatory symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Straube
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Bianca M van Kemenade
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Tilo Kircher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Rasmus Schülke
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Snowden AW, Buhusi CV. Neural Correlates of Interval Timing Deficits in Schizophrenia. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:9. [PMID: 30760991 PMCID: PMC6362255 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2018] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that schizophrenia (SZ) patients exhibit impairments in interval timing. The cause of timing impairments in SZ remains unknown but may be explained by a dysfunction in the fronto-striatal circuits. Although the current literature includes extensive behavioral data on timing impairments, there is limited focus on the neural correlates of timing in SZ. The neuroimaging literature included in the current review reports hypoactivation in the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), supplementary motor area (SMA) and the basal ganglia (BG). Timing deficits and deficits in attention and working memory (WM) in SZ are likely due to a dysfunction of dopamine (DA) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission in the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuits, which are highly implicated in executive functioning and motor preparation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel W Snowden
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
| | - Catalin V Buhusi
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
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11
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Thoenes S, Oberfeld D. Meta-analysis of time perception and temporal processing in schizophrenia: Differential effects on precision and accuracy. Clin Psychol Rev 2017; 54:44-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2016] [Revised: 03/19/2017] [Accepted: 03/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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Graham-Schmidt KT, Martin-Iverson MT, Holmes NP, Waters FAV. When one's sense of agency goes wrong: Absent modulation of time perception by voluntary actions and reduction of perceived length of intervals in passivity symptoms in schizophrenia. Conscious Cogn 2016; 45:9-23. [PMID: 27544689 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2016] [Revised: 07/08/2016] [Accepted: 08/12/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Passivity symptoms in schizophrenia are characterised by an absence of agency for actions, thoughts and other somatic experiences. Time perception and intentional binding have both been linked to agency and schizophrenia but have not been examined in passivity symptoms. Time perception and intentional binding were assessed in people with schizophrenia (n=15 with, n=24 without passivity symptoms) and 43 healthy controls using an interval estimation procedure (200, 400 and 600ms intervals) with active, passive and observed movements. People with passivity symptoms did not display action-modulation of time perception, while those without passivity symptoms estimated intervals to be the same after active and observed movements. Additionally, both clinical samples reported intervals to be shorter with increasing interval length. We propose that impaired predictive processes may produce an overreliance on external cues and, together with shorter perceived intervals, lead to the subjective loss of agency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyran T Graham-Schmidt
- Pharmacology, Pharmacy & Anaesthesiology Unit, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA, Australia.
| | - Mathew T Martin-Iverson
- Pharmacology, Pharmacy & Anaesthesiology Unit, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA, Australia; Statewide Department of Neurophysiology, Graylands Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Services - Mental Health, WA, Australia
| | | | - Flavie A V Waters
- School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA, Australia; Clinical Research Centre, Graylands Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Services - Mental Health, WA, Australia
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de Montalembert M, Coulon N, Cohen D, Bonnot O, Tordjman S. Time perception of simultaneous and sequential events in early-onset schizophrenia. Neurocase 2016; 22:392-9. [PMID: 27388526 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2016.1205098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Timing disorders in schizophrenia are a well-known phenomenon. However, no studies have yet assessed the role of temporal distortions in early-onset schizophrenia (EOS), despite evidence that distorted time perception may share genetic risk factors with schizophrenia and may be a useful indicator in identifying individuals at risk for schizophrenia. In the present study, we investigated the ability of 10 patients with EOS (mean age = 21.5 years, SD = 6) matched with 20 healthy control participants (mean age = 25.3 years, SD = 4.6) in order to compare the durations of two visual events, presented either sequentially or overlapping in time, along with neuropsychological assessments of attention, working memory, and executive functions. Each participant had to judge a total of 336 stimuli. We found that temporal overlap had a greater negative effect on ability to judge the duration of a pair of stimuli in EOS patients than in healthy control participants. In addition, EOS patients showed impairments in attention and executive functions. Furthermore, in EOS patients, the scores for executive and attentional functions were significantly correlated with accuracy of temporal estimation in the overlap condition (r = 0.31, p < 0.05 and r = 0.57, p < 0.05, respectively). These preliminary results suggest that impairments in neuropsychological functions participate in the deficit in time estimation observed in patients with EOS. These conclusions highlight the importance of testing time perception in patients with EOS and could contribute to the development of cognitive remediation-based therapy for these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- M de Montalembert
- a Laboratoire Cognitions Humaine et Artificielle (CHArt-UPO, EA 4004) & Université Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense , Nanterre, France
| | - N Coulon
- b Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception (CNRS UMR 8242) , Université Paris Descartes , Paris, France.,c Département de Psychiatrie , Université de Brest, CHU de Brest , Brest, France
| | - D Cohen
- d Service de Psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent, CNRS UMR 7222 Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et Robotiques, GH Pitié Salpêtrière, AP-HP, UPMC , Paris , France
| | - O Bonnot
- e Unité Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent , Hôpital Mère-Enfant, CHU de Nantes , France
| | - S Tordjman
- b Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception (CNRS UMR 8242) , Université Paris Descartes , Paris, France.,f Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent de Rennes , Université de Rennes 1 , Rennes, France
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14
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Klaver M, Dijkerman HC. Bodily Experience in Schizophrenia: Factors Underlying a Disturbed Sense of Body Ownership. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:305. [PMID: 27378895 PMCID: PMC4911393 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Emerging evidence is now challenging the view that patients diagnosed with schizophrenia experience a selective deficit in their sense of agency. Additional disturbances seem to exist in their sense of body ownership. However, the factors underlying this disturbance in body ownership remain elusive. Knowledge of these factors, and increased understanding of how body ownership is related to other abnormalities seen in schizophrenia, could ultimately advance development of new treatments. Research on body ownership in schizophrenia has mainly been investigated with the rubber hand illusion (RHI). Schizophrenia patients show higher susceptibility to the RHI, which may be explained by a stronger reliance on multisensory information over weaker stored body representations. This review shows that a coherent sense of body ownership arises from the integration of both bottom-up sensory processes and higher order, top-down bodily- and perceptual representations. Multisensory integration, temporal binding, anticipation, intention and efferent signals all partly modulate the complex experience of body ownership. Specifically, we propose that patients with schizophrenia have weaker stored body representations, and rely to a greater extent on external stimuli, such as visual information, due to imprecise or highly variable internal predictions. Moreover, the reduced sense of agency in schizophrenia may additionally contribute to the disturbed sense of body ownership, as evidence from healthy participants suggests that agency and body ownership are interrelated. Vice versa, a reduced sense of body ownership may also contribute to a reduced sense of agency. Future studies should explicitly target the precise relationship between the two in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maayke Klaver
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University CS Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - H Chris Dijkerman
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University CS Utrecht, Netherlands
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Alústiza I, Radua J, Albajes-Eizagirre A, Domínguez M, Aubá E, Ortuño F. Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging and Cognitive Control Studies in Schizophrenia: Preliminary Elucidation of a Core Dysfunctional Timing Network. Front Psychol 2016; 7:192. [PMID: 26925013 PMCID: PMC4756542 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2015] [Accepted: 01/31/2016] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Timing and other cognitive processes demanding cognitive control become interlinked when there is an increase in the level of difficulty or effort required. Both functions are interrelated and share neuroanatomical bases. A previous meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies found that people with schizophrenia had significantly lower activation, relative to normal controls, of most right hemisphere regions of the time circuit. This finding suggests that a pattern of disconnectivity of this circuit, particularly in the supplementary motor area, is a trait of this mental disease. We hypothesize that a dysfunctional temporal/cognitive control network underlies both cognitive and psychiatric symptoms of schizophrenia and that timing dysfunction is at the root of the cognitive deficits observed. The goal of our study was to look, in schizophrenia patients, for brain structures activated both by execution of cognitive tasks requiring increased effort and by performance of time perception tasks. We conducted a signed differential mapping (SDM) meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia patients assessing the brain response to increasing levels of cognitive difficulty. Then, we performed a multimodal meta-analysis to identify common brain regions in the findings of that SDM meta-analysis and our previously-published activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging of time perception in schizophrenia patients. The current study supports the hypothesis that there exists an overlap between neural structures engaged by both timing tasks and non-temporal cognitive tasks of escalating difficulty in schizophrenia. The implication is that a deficit in timing can be considered as a trait marker of the schizophrenia cognitive profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Alústiza
- Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Clínica Universidad de NavarraPamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de NavarraNavarra, Spain
| | - Joaquim Radua
- Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings CollegeLondon, UK; FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalaries Hospital Sant RafaelBarcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédicaen Redde Salud MentalBarcelona, Spain
| | - Anton Albajes-Eizagirre
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalaries Hospital Sant RafaelBarcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédicaen Redde Salud MentalBarcelona, Spain
| | - Manuel Domínguez
- Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Clínica Universidad de NavarraPamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de NavarraNavarra, Spain
| | - Enrique Aubá
- Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Clínica Universidad de NavarraPamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de NavarraNavarra, Spain
| | - Felipe Ortuño
- Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Clínica Universidad de NavarraPamplona, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de NavarraNavarra, Spain
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Venkatasubramanian G. Understanding schizophrenia as a disorder of consciousness: biological correlates and translational implications from quantum theory perspectives. CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE : THE OFFICIAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN COLLEGE OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY 2015; 13:36-47. [PMID: 25912536 PMCID: PMC4423156 DOI: 10.9758/cpn.2015.13.1.36] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2014] [Revised: 12/07/2014] [Accepted: 12/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
From neurophenomenological perspectives, schizophrenia has been conceptualized as "a disorder with heterogeneous manifestations that can be integrally understood to involve fundamental perturbations in consciousness". While these theoretical constructs based on consciousness facilitate understanding the 'gestalt' of schizophrenia, systematic research to unravel translational implications of these models is warranted. To address this, one needs to begin with exploration of plausible biological underpinnings of "perturbed consciousness" in schizophrenia. In this context, an attractive proposition to understand the biology of consciousness is "the orchestrated object reduction (Orch-OR) theory" which invokes quantum processes in the microtubules of neurons. The Orch-OR model is particularly important for understanding schizophrenia especially due to the shared 'scaffold' of microtubules. The initial sections of this review focus on the compelling evidence to support the view that "schizophrenia is a disorder of consciousness" through critical summary of the studies that have demonstrated self-abnormalities, aberrant time perception as well as dysfunctional intentional binding in this disorder. Subsequently, these findings are linked with 'Orch-OR theory' through the research evidence for aberrant neural oscillations as well as microtubule abnormalities observed in schizophrenia. Further sections emphasize the applicability and translational implications of Orch-OR theory in the context of schizophrenia and elucidate the relevance of quantum biology to understand the origins of this puzzling disorder as "fundamental disturbances in consciousness".
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Affiliation(s)
- Ganesan Venkatasubramanian
- The Schizophrenia Clinic, Department of Psychiatry and Translational Psychiatry Laboratory, Neurobiology Research Centre, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore,
India
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Individuals with schizophrenia frequently report disturbances in time perception, but the precise nature of such deficits and their relation to specific symptoms of the disorder is unclear. We sought to determine the relationship between hallucination proneness and time perception in healthy individuals, and whether this relationship is moderated by hypervigilance to threat-related stimuli. METHODS 206 participants completed the Revised Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS-R) and a time reproduction task in which, on each trial, participants viewed a face (happy, angry, neutral, or fearful) for between 1 and 5 s and then reproduced the time period with a spacebar press. RESULTS High LSHS-R scores were associated with longer time estimates, but only during exposure to angry faces. A factor analysis of LSHS-R scores identified a factor comprising items related to reality monitoring, and this factor was most associated with the longer time estimates. CONCLUSIONS During exposure to potential threat in the environment, duration estimates increase with hallucination proneness. The experience of feeling exposed to threat for longer may serve to maintain a state of hypervigilance which has been shown previously to be associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abbie L Coy
- a School of Psychology , University of Sussex , Brighton , UK
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Graham KT, Martin-Iverson MT, Holmes NP, Jablensky A, Waters F. Deficits in agency in schizophrenia, and additional deficits in body image, body schema, and internal timing, in passivity symptoms. Front Psychiatry 2014; 5:126. [PMID: 25309460 PMCID: PMC4159976 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2014] [Accepted: 08/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with schizophrenia, particularly those with passivity symptoms, may not feel in control of their actions, believing them to be controlled by external agents. Cognitive operations that contribute to these symptoms may include abnormal processing in agency as well as body representations that deal with body schema and body image. However, these operations in schizophrenia are not fully understood, and the questions of general versus specific deficits in individuals with different symptom profiles remain unanswered. Using the projected-hand illusion (a digital video version of the rubber-hand illusion) with synchronous and asynchronous stroking (500 ms delay), and a hand laterality judgment task, we assessed sense of agency, body image, and body schema in 53 people with clinically stable schizophrenia (with a current, past, and no history of passivity symptoms) and 48 healthy controls. The results revealed a stable trait in schizophrenia with no difference between clinical subgroups (sense of agency) and some quantitative (specific) differences depending on the passivity symptom profile (body image and body schema). Specifically, a reduced sense of self-agency was a common feature of all clinical subgroups. However, subgroup comparisons showed that individuals with passivity symptoms (both current and past) had significantly greater deficits on tasks assessing body image and body schema, relative to the other groups. In addition, patients with current passivity symptoms failed to demonstrate the normal reduction in body illusion typically seen with a 500 ms delay in visual feedback (asynchronous condition), suggesting internal timing problems. Altogether, the results underscore self-abnormalities in schizophrenia, provide evidence for both trait abnormalities and state changes specific to passivity symptoms, and point to a role for internal timing deficits as a mechanistic explanation for external cues becoming a possible source of self-body input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyran T Graham
- Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Anaesthesiology Unit, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia , Perth, WA , Australia ; Statewide Department of Neurophysiology and Clinical Research Centre, Graylands Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Services - Mental Health , Perth, WA , Australia
| | - Mathew T Martin-Iverson
- Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Anaesthesiology Unit, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia , Perth, WA , Australia ; Statewide Department of Neurophysiology and Clinical Research Centre, Graylands Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Services - Mental Health , Perth, WA , Australia
| | - Nicholas P Holmes
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading , Reading , UK
| | - Assen Jablensky
- Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, The University of Western Australia , Perth, WA , Australia
| | - Flavie Waters
- Statewide Department of Neurophysiology and Clinical Research Centre, Graylands Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Services - Mental Health , Perth, WA , Australia ; Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, The University of Western Australia , Perth, WA , Australia
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Papageorgiou C, Karanasiou IS, Kapsali F, Stachtea X, Kyprianou M, Tsianaka EI, Karakatsanis NA, Rabavilas AD, Uzunoglu NK, Papadimitriou GN. Temporal processing dysfunction in schizophrenia as measured by time interval discrimination and tempo reproduction tasks. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2013; 40:173-9. [PMID: 23367507 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2012.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Time perception deficiency has been implicated in schizophrenia; however the exact nature of this remains unclear. The present study was designed with the aim to delineate timing deficits in schizophrenia by examining performance of patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers in an interval discrimination test and their accuracy and precision in a pacing reproduction–replication test. METHODS The first task involved temporal discrimination of intervals, in which participants (60 patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy controls) had to judge whether intervals were longer, shorter or equal than a standard interval. The second task required repetitive self-paced tapping to test accuracy and precision in the reproduction and replication of tempos. RESULTS Patients were found to differ significantly from the controls in the psychoticism scale of EPQ, the proportion of correct responses in the interval discrimination test and the overall accuracy and precision in the reproduction and replication of sound sequences (p < 0.01). Within the patient group bad responders concerning the ability to discriminate time intervals were associated with increased scores in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and in the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in comparison to good responders (p < 0.01). There were no gender effects and there were no differences between subgroups of patients taking different kinds or combinations of drugs. CONCLUSIONS Analysis has shown that performance on timing tasks decreased with increasing psychopathology and therefore that timing dysfunctions are directly linked to the severity of the illness. Different temporal dysfunctions can be traced to different psychophysiological origins that can be explained using the Scalar Expectancy Theory (SET).
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Roy M, Grondin S, Roy MA. Time perception disorders are related to working memory impairment in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 2012; 200:159-66. [PMID: 22862910 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2011] [Revised: 05/31/2012] [Accepted: 06/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Time perception (TP) impairment in schizophrenia has been originally described by clinicians and afterwards addressed in laboratory. Previous studies generally observed that schizophrenia patients overestimate time and that their timing sensitivity is impaired. However, because of the disease cognitive impairments, no study until now allows to draw definitive conclusions about the nature of TP disturbances. The aim of this study is to isolate a genuine TP disorder in schizophrenia, i.e., a disorder that would be related to the functioning of an internal clock. The main hypothesis tested is that patients' internal clock runs faster than that of healthy controls. Twenty-five patients suffering from a first-episode of schizophrenia and twenty-five healthy controls performed an innovative task called method of dynamic stimuli, designed to measure the natural frequency (F(n)) of the internal clock, concomitant with a neuropsychological assessment. We observed no significant difference in F(n) between groups. Compared to controls, there was a marginally higher variability in time reproduction in patients. Patients' pattern of results and significant correlations between TP tasks and memory outcomes suggest that TP impairments are related to memory impairment in schizophrenia. These conclusions are supported by a growing literature showing that cognition is involved in TP in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Roy
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada; Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
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Abstract
Based on clinical, phenomenological and neurobiological observations, psychiatrists often report a deficit in time estimation in patients with schizophrenia. Cognitive models of time estimation in healthy subjects have been proposed and developed for approximately 30 years. The current theory in the field of time perception, which is supported by a connectionist model, postulates that temporal judgement is based upon a pacemaker-counter device that depends mostly upon memory and attentional resources. The pacemaker emits pulses that are accumulated in a counter, and the number of pulses determines the perceived length of an interval. Patients with schizophrenia are known to display attentional and memory dysfunctions. Moreover, dopamine regulation mechanisms are involved in both the temporal perception processes and schizophrenia. Thus, it is still unclear if temporal impairments in schizophrenia are related to a specific disturbance in central temporal processes or are due to certain cognitive problems, such as attentional and memory dysfunctions, or biological abnormalities. The authors present a critical literature review on time perception in schizophrenia that covers topics from psychopathology to neuroscience. Temporal perception appears to play a key role in schizophrenia and to be partially neglected in the current literature. Future research is required to better ascertain the underlying mechanisms of time perception impairments in schizophrenia.
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Hauser M, Knoblich G, Repp BH, Lautenschlager M, Gallinat J, Heinz A, Voss M. Altered sense of agency in schizophrenia and the putative psychotic prodrome. Psychiatry Res 2011; 186:170-6. [PMID: 20826001 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2009] [Revised: 06/04/2010] [Accepted: 08/10/2010] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying distortions in sense of agency, i.e. the experience of controlling one's own actions and their consequences, in schizophrenia are not fully understood and have barely been investigated in patients classified as being in a putative psychotic prodrome. This study aims to expound the contribution of early and late illness-related processes. Thirty schizophrenia patients, 30 putatively prodromal patients and 30 healthy controls were instructed to reproduce a computer-generated series of drum sounds on a drum pad. While tapping, subjects heard either their self-produced tones or a computer-controlled reproduction of the drum tone series that used either exactly the same, an accelerated or decelerated tempo. Subjects had to determine the source of agency. Results show similar significant impairments in assigning the source of agency under ambiguous conditions in schizophrenia and putatively prodromal patients and an exaggerated self-attribution bias, both of which were significantly correlated with increased (ego-)psychopathology. Patient groups, however, benefited significantly more than controls from additional sensorimotor cues to agency. Sensorimotor input seems to be a compensatory mechanism involved in correctly attributing agency. We deduce that altered awareness of agency may hold promise as an additional risk factor for psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Hauser
- The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore - Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, USA.
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23
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Hauser M, Moore JW, de Millas W, Gallinat J, Heinz A, Haggard P, Voss M. Sense of agency is altered in patients with a putative psychotic prodrome. Schizophr Res 2011; 126:20-7. [PMID: 21112189 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.10.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2010] [Revised: 10/26/2010] [Accepted: 10/28/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sense of agency (SoAg)--the experience of controlling one's own actions and their consequences--has been studied in schizophrenia but not in the earlier stages of the disease, i.e. in patients with a putative psychotic prodrome (PP). Previous research has shown that time judgments of voluntary actions can provide an implicit measure of the SoAg. METHOD 30 PP patients and 30 healthy controls performed voluntary key presses while watching a rotating clock hand on a monitor. After each key press they had to estimate the time of the action (based on the perceived position of the clock hand at the time of the key press). By varying the probability with which the simple manual action was followed by a tone, we investigated whether shifts in perceptual estimates of the operant action towards a resulting effect depended on the actual occurrence of the effect (retrospective process) or on the prediction that the effect will occur. RESULTS PP patients differed from healthy controls but their results did not resemble previous findings in schizophrenia patients. PP patients showed numerically--but not significantly--stronger temporal linkage between action and consequence than healthy controls. Retrospective and predictive influences on action binding were stronger in PP patients. Furthermore, the altered influence of prediction was significantly correlated to ego-psychopathology. DISCUSSION Distortions of agency constitute a core feature of the disease that is already present in the PP but may evolve further with progression of the illness. Distortions of agency may thus represent a promising additional predictive risk factor for transition to psychosis in PP patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Hauser
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medicine Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
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Corlett PR, Taylor JR, Wang XJ, Fletcher PC, Krystal JH. Toward a neurobiology of delusions. Prog Neurobiol 2010; 92:345-69. [PMID: 20558235 PMCID: PMC3676875 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 251] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2010] [Revised: 05/06/2010] [Accepted: 06/08/2010] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Delusions are the false and often incorrigible beliefs that can cause severe suffering in mental illness. We cannot yet explain them in terms of underlying neurobiological abnormalities. However, by drawing on recent advances in the biological, computational and psychological processes of reinforcement learning, memory, and perception it may be feasible to account for delusions in terms of cognition and brain function. The account focuses on a particular parameter, prediction error--the mismatch between expectation and experience--that provides a computational mechanism common to cortical hierarchies, fronto-striatal circuits and the amygdala as well as parietal cortices. We suggest that delusions result from aberrations in how brain circuits specify hierarchical predictions, and how they compute and respond to prediction errors. Defects in these fundamental brain mechanisms can vitiate perception, memory, bodily agency and social learning such that individuals with delusions experience an internal and external world that healthy individuals would find difficult to comprehend. The present model attempts to provide a framework through which we can build a mechanistic and translational understanding of these puzzling symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- P R Corlett
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, Connecticut Mental Health Centre, Abraham Ribicoff Research Facility, 34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
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Franck N. Approche neurocognitive des troubles du vécu dans la schizophrénie. EVOLUTION PSYCHIATRIQUE 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evopsy.2010.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Ward RD, Kellendonk C, Simpson EH, Lipatova O, Drew MR, Fairhurst S, Kandel ER, Balsam PD. Impaired timing precision produced by striatal D2 receptor overexpression is mediated by cognitive and motivational deficits. Behav Neurosci 2009; 123:720-30. [PMID: 19634929 DOI: 10.1037/a0016503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Increased striatal dopamine D2 receptor activity is thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. To model this condition in mice, Kellendonk et al. (2006) generated transgenic mice that selectively overexpress the D2 receptor in striatum (D2OE). Drew et al. (2007) reported that D2OE mice display deficits in interval timing and motivation. The present study further explored the impaired timing in D2OE mice. Experiment 1 assessed the role of motivation in producing timing deficits in the peak procedure and found that performance in D2OE mice was improved by increasing motivation. In addition, performance was impaired in control mice when motivation was decreased. In Experiment 2, we found that D2OE mice have no timing impairment when tested using the bisection task, a procedure in which the measure of timing performance is less influenced by motivation to respond. In Experiment 3, we also used the bisection task and found selective impairment in timing of long durations in D2OE mice. These results suggest that striatal D2 overexpression impairs timing by decreasing motivation and through its impact on working memory and/or sustained attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan D Ward
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, NY State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA
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Waters F, Jablensky A. Time discrimination deficits in schizophrenia patients with first-rank (passivity) symptoms. Psychiatry Res 2009; 167:12-20. [PMID: 19339057 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2007] [Revised: 03/30/2008] [Accepted: 04/05/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia patients with first-rank (passivity) symptoms (FRS) report a loss of clear boundaries between the self and others and that their thoughts and actions are controlled by external forces. One of the more widely accepted explanatory models of FRS suggests a dysfunction in the 'forward model' system, whose role consists in predicting the sensory consequences of actions [Frith, C., 2006. The neural basis of hallucinations and delusions. Comptes Rendus Biologies 328, 169-175.]. There has been recent interest in the importance of timing precision underlying both the functioning of the forward model, and in processes contributing to the mechanisms of self-recognition [Haggard, P., Martin, F., Taylor-Clarke, M., Jeannerod, M., Franck, N., 2003. Awareness of action in schizophrenia. Neuroreport 14, 1081-1085.]. In the current study, we examined whether schizophrenia patients with FRS have a time perception impairment, using an auditory discrimination task requiring judgments of temporal intervals. Thirty-five schizophrenia patients (15 with, and 20 without, FRS), and 16 non-clinical controls completed the task. The results showed that patients with FRS experienced time differently by underestimating the duration of time intervals. Given the role of timing in shaping sensory awareness and in the formation of causal mental associations, a breakdown in timing mechanisms may affect the processes relating to the perceived control of actions and mental events, leading to disturbances of self-recognition in FRS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavie Waters
- Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Claremont, Perth, Australia.
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Time perception and its neuropsychological correlates in patients with schizophrenia and in healthy volunteers. Psychiatry Res 2009; 166:174-83. [PMID: 19278734 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2006] [Revised: 10/19/2007] [Accepted: 03/02/2008] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Disordered time perception has been reported in schizophrenia. We investigated time perception dysfunction and its neuropsychological correlates in patients with schizophrenia. Participants comprised 38 patients and 38 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers who were compared in an auditory temporal bisection paradigm using two interval ranges (a 400/800 ms condition and a 1000/2000 ms condition). In the temporal bisection, subjects were required to categorise a probe duration as short or long, based upon the similarity with two reference durations. All subjects also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests measuring sustained attention, short- and long-term memory and executive function. In the 400/800 ms condition, patients judged durations significantly shorter than did control subjects. Patients also exhibited decreased temporal sensitivity in both conditions. We found in both groups a negative association between temporal sensitivity and sustained attention for the 400/800 ms condition, and between temporal sensitivity and long-term memory for the 1000/200 ms condition. In patients, short-term memory performance was negatively associated with duration judgement in both conditions, while executive dysfunction was correlated to a general performance deficit in the 400/800 ms condition. These findings suggest the possibility that time perception abnormalities in schizophrenia are part of neuropsychological dysfunction and are likely to adversely impact upon activity of daily living.
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Lafargue G, Franck N. Effort awareness and sense of volition in schizophrenia. Conscious Cogn 2009; 18:277-89. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2008.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2008] [Revised: 05/13/2008] [Accepted: 05/19/2008] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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On the signals underlying conscious awareness of action. Cognition 2009; 110:65-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2008] [Revised: 10/12/2008] [Accepted: 10/13/2008] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Gowen E, Miall RC. The cerebellum and motor dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders. CEREBELLUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2007; 6:268-79. [PMID: 17786823 PMCID: PMC6010149 DOI: 10.1080/14734220601184821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The cerebellum is densely interconnected with sensory-motor areas of the cerebral cortex, and in man, the great expansion of the association areas of cerebral cortex is also paralleled by an expansion of the lateral cerebellar hemispheres. It is therefore likely that these circuits contribute to non-motor cognitive functions, but this is still a controversial issue. One approach is to examine evidence from neuropsychiatric disorders of cerebellar involvement. In this review, we narrow this search to test whether there is evidence of motor dysfunction associated with neuropsychiatric disorders consistent with disruption of cerebellar motor function. While we do find such evidence, especially in autism, schizophrenia and dyslexia, we caution that the restricted set of motor symptoms does not suggest global cerebellar dysfunction. Moreover, these symptoms may also reflect involvement of other, extra-cerebellar circuits and detailed examination of specific sub groups of individuals within each disorder may help to relate such motor symptoms to cerebellar morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Gowen
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.
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Gunstad J, Cohen RA, Paul RH, Luyster FS, Gordon E. Age effects in time estimation: relationship to frontal brain morphometry. J Integr Neurosci 2006; 5:75-87. [PMID: 16544367 DOI: 10.1142/s0219635206001045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2005] [Revised: 02/06/2006] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Compared with many other cognitive functions, relatively little is known about time representation in the brain. Recent work shows disrupted timing and time estimation in older adults, although it is unclear whether these effects are the result of normal aging or disease-related processes. The present study examined time estimation in persons across the adult lifespan who were free from significant medical or psychiatric history. Results showed older adults exhibited greater variability in time estimation, but no evidence for systematic acceleration or slowing emerged. This variability was correlated with performance on a variety of cognitive tests including attention, working memory and executive function. Although no relationship emerged between time estimation and EEG indices from central regions, multiple MRI indices were significantly correlated with time estimation. Stepwise regression showed volume of the supplementary motor area predicted variability in time estimation. These results indicate that healthy aging is associated with altered time estimation and suggest that changes in frontal brain regions mediate these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Gunstad
- Department of Psychology, Kent Hall, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
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