Reduced Phase Synchronization for Auditory Deviant Detection in Schizophrenia and Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Abstract

Decreased amplitude of electrophysiological responses to deviant auditory stimuli within a pattern of standard stimuli, i.e. the mismatch negativity (MMN), is a reliable finding in schizophrenia. However, it is unknown whether this dysfunctional response is also present in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. Previous evidence has highlighted reduced phase synchronization during change detection of visual stimuli in individuals at risk. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the MMN time-frequency power and inter-trial phase-coherence in patients with schizophrenia and individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis.