Abstract
Background: Due to its impairment in patients with schizophrenia, mismatch negativity (MMN) generation has been identified as a potential biomarker for identifying primary impairments in auditory sensory processing. This study aimed to investigate the dysfunctional differences in different MMN deviants and evoked theta power in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and chronic schizophrenia (CS).Methods: We measured frequency and duration MMN from 40 FES, 40 CS, and 40 healthy controls (HC). Evoked theta power was analyzed by event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) approaches.Results: Deficits in duration MMN were observed in both FES (p = 0.048, Bonferroni-adjusted) and CS (p < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted). However, deficits in frequency MMN were restricted to the CS (p < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted). Evoked theta power deficits were observed in both patient groups when compared with the HC (p FES = 0.001, p CS < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted), yet no significant differences were found between FES and CS. Frequency MMN was correlated with the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery (MCCB) combined score (r = -0.327, p < 0.05) and MCCB verbal learning (r = -0.328, p < 0.05) in FES. Evoked theta power was correlated with MCCB working memory in both FES (r = 0.347, p < 0.05) and CS (r = 0.408, p < 0.01).Conclusion: These findings suggest that duration MMN and evoked theta power deficits may be more sensitive for detection of schizophrenia during its early stages. Moreover, frequency MMN and theta power could potentially linked to poor cognitive functioning in schizophrenic patients. The findings mentioned above indicated that the neural mechanisms of the three indexes may vary between people.
Highlights
One of the central features of schizophrenia is cognitive impairment (Elvevåg and Goldberg, 2000; Weickert et al, 2000), which may include both higher-order functions, such as working memory, and essential sensory functions like auditory function (Javitt and Freedman, 2015; Javitt and Sweet, 2015)
Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a negative component of the auditory eventrelated potential (ERP), which may be indicative of the neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction that occur in patients with schizophrenia (Näätänen et al, 2014; Hay et al, 2015, Javitt and Sweet, 2015)
While MMN deficits have been detected in several deviant types, the most extensively studied are those of duration and frequency, as both of these have been found to be significantly impaired in patients with schizophrenia (Friedman et al, 2012)
Summary
One of the central features of schizophrenia is cognitive impairment (Elvevåg and Goldberg, 2000; Weickert et al, 2000), which may include both higher-order functions, such as working memory, and essential sensory functions like auditory function (Javitt and Freedman, 2015; Javitt and Sweet, 2015). Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a negative component of the auditory eventrelated potential (ERP), which may be indicative of the neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction that occur in patients with schizophrenia (Näätänen et al, 2014; Hay et al, 2015, Javitt and Sweet, 2015). Previous studies (Salisbury et al, 2002; Magno et al, 2008) found that frequency MMN deficits were common in CS, yet these deficits were not detected in FES. This study aimed to investigate the dysfunctional differences in different MMN deviants and evoked theta power in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and chronic schizophrenia (CS)
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