Abstract
Cognitive and information processing deficits are core features and important sources of disability in schizophrenia. Our understanding of the neural substrates of these deficits remains incomplete, in large part because the complexity of impairments in schizophrenia makes the identification of specific deficits very challenging. Vision science presents unique opportunities in this regard: many years of basic research have led to detailed characterization of relationships between structure and function in the early visual system and have produced sophisticated methods to quantify visual perception and characterize its neural substrates. We present a selective review of research that illustrates the opportunities for discovery provided by visual studies in schizophrenia. We highlight work that has been particularly effective in applying vision science methods to identify specific neural abnormalities underlying information processing deficits in schizophrenia. In addition, we describe studies that have utilized psychophysical experimental designs that mitigate generalized deficit confounds, thereby revealing specific visual impairments in schizophrenia. These studies contribute to accumulating evidence that early visual cortex is a useful experimental system for the study of local cortical circuit abnormalities in schizophrenia. The high degree of similarity across neocortical areas of neuronal subtypes and their patterns of connectivity suggests that insights obtained from the study of early visual cortex may be applicable to other brain regions. We conclude with a discussion of future studies that combine vision science and neuroimaging methods. These studies have the potential to address pressing questions in schizophrenia, including the dissociation of local circuit deficits vs. impairments in feedback modulation by cognitive processes such as spatial attention and working memory, and the relative contributions of glutamatergic and GABAergic deficits.
Highlights
Schizophrenia is one of the most perplexing and important mysteries in modern medicine
In the last part of this review, we present a discussion of the ways in which visual studies may inform some of the most important unresolved questions relating to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia
We review a select sample of studies, including ones conducted by our group, that illustrates the translational potential of the visual system in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of information processing deficits in schizophrenia
Summary
Schizophrenia is one of the most perplexing and important mysteries in modern medicine. The first feature is important because it provides a relatively extensive knowledge base, compared to other neural systems, with which findings in schizophrenia may be contrasted to help identify abnormalities in this condition Both features are critical in allowing investigators to test hypotheses and draw inferences at a level of specificity and neurobiological detail that is often not possible in other systems in the brain. As extensively reviewed elsewhere (Green et al, 2011a), masking paradigms offer a number of advantages in elucidating neural mechanisms of information processing deficits in schizophrenia, including the ability to precisely control stimulus parameters, the presence of well established neurobiological models of masking, and the correlation of visual masking impairments with core symptoms in schizophrenia (Green and Walker, 1986; Braff, 1989). The specificity of abnormalities in schizophrenia for contextual processing of contrast may explain why some studies have not found deficits in contextual modulation for other visual features in schizophrenia (Schütze et al, 2007; Roinishvili et al, 2008)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
