Better explicating the strengths and shortcomings of these models will help refine projections and improve transparency in the years ahead.
Image credit: Witsawat.S.
-
Edited by Rodolfo R. Llinas, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, and approved October 8, 2004 (received for review August 17, 2004)
Abstract
Current views of schizophrenia suggest that it results from abnormalities in neural circuitry, but empirical evidence in the millisecond range of neural activity has been difficult to obtain. In pursuit of relevant evidence, we previously demonstrated that schizophrenia is associated with abnormal patterns of stimulus-evoked phaselocking of the electroencephalogram in the γ band (30–100 Hz). These patterns may reflect impairments in neural assemblies, which have been proposed to use γ-band oscillations as a mechanism for synchronization. Here, we report the unique finding that, in both healthy controls and schizophrenia patients, visual Gestalt stimuli elicit a γ-band oscillation that is phase-locked to reaction time and hence may reflect processes leading to conscious perception of the stimuli. However, the frequency of this oscillation is lower in schizophrenics than in healthy individuals. This finding suggests that, although synchronization must occur for perception of the Gestalt, it occurs at a lower frequency because of a reduced capability of neural networks to support high-frequency synchronization in the brain of schizophrenics. Furthermore, the degree of phase locking of this oscillation is correlated with visual hallucinations, thought disorder, and disorganization in the schizophrenia patients. These data provide support for linking dysfunctional neural circuitry and the core symptoms of schizophrenia.
Footnotes
-
↵ * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: robert_mccarley{at}hms.harvard.edu.
-
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
-
Abbreviations: EEG, electroencephalogram; RT, reaction time; SZ, schizophrenia patient(s); NC, normal control subject(s); VEP, visual evoked potential; VH, visual hallucinators; NVH, non-VH.
- Copyright © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences
Neural synchrony indexes disordered perception and cognition in schizophrenia
Sign up for Article Alerts
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Did the Caribbean sweep into the western Amazon millions of years ago, shaping the region’s rich biodiversity?
Image credit: Tacio Cordeiro Bicudo (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), Victor Sacek (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), and Lucy Reading-Ikkanda (artist).
Settlements 4,200 years ago may have suffered from overpopulation before drought and lower temperatures ultimately made them unsustainable.
Image credit: Andrea Ricci.
Mara Reed and Michael Manga explore why Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser resumed erupting in 2018.
Some songbird parents might improve their own fitness by manipulating their offspring into leaving the nest early, at the cost of fledgling survival, a study finds.
Image credit: Gil Eckrich (photographer).