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Auditory Selective Attention and Event-Related Potentials in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Philip B. Ward ,
Stanley V. Catts ,
Allison M. Fox ,
Patricia T. Michie  and
Neil McConaghy
Philip B. Ward*
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of NSW, Psychiatry Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, High St, Randwick, NSW, Australia 2031
Stanley V. Catts
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of NSW, Psychiatry Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, High St, Randwick, NSW, Australia 2031
Allison M. Fox
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, School of Behavioural Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2109
Patricia T. Michie
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, School of Behavioural Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2109
Neil McConaghy
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of NSW, Psychiatry Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, High St, Randwick, NSW, Australia 2031
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

Brain ERPs were recorded in ten unmedicated schizophrenic patients and age- and sex-matched healthy controls during a multidimensional listening task. Patients showed a marked reduction in a long-duration attention-related negative ERP component, termed ‘processing negativity’ (PN), which was elicited by attended stimuli. The amplitude of PN was significantly correlated with SANS and SAPS scores of schizophrenic symptoms. The P300 component was also reduced in amplitude in patients, and was significantly correlated with SANS ratings of negative thought disorder. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence of impairment in the maintenance of selective attention and the cognitive processes associated with target detection among schizophrenic patients. The reduced PN in schizophrenics implicates frontostriatal pathways in the aetiology of attentional deficits in schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 4 , April 1991 , pp. 534 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

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