Colliculopulvinar contributions to alpha dysregulation and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia

精神分裂症（Schizophrenia，Sz）是一种与核心神经认知功能障碍相关的严重精神障碍 赤字虽然，精神分裂症的传统模型集中在认知功能障碍， 感觉处理皮层区域，越来越多的证据表明， 皮层下处理功能受损沿着皮层下视觉通路出现缺陷， 特别是涉及大细胞视觉通路，已经与 早期皮质反应的产生，反过来，有助于高阶皮质 损伤然而，这些缺陷可能并不能解释所有的视觉信息处理 在Sz的异常。最近，我们观察到正在进行的头皮- 记录的α活性，这似乎独立于传统的大/小细胞 通路，并且可能由“视网膜顶盖”视觉通路的功能障碍介导， 涉及上级丘（SC）和丘脑枕核（PuN），但 绕过外侧膝状体核（LGN）。目前，用于评估 神经精神病人群中的视网膜顶盖系统仍然有限。在这个项目中，我们将 对从基础科学中收集到的潜在范式进行并排比较 文献引出PuN/SC激活，并将研究其可行性和心理测量学特性。 这些范例将被用来评估PuN/SC处理的完整性在Sz相对 阿尔法一代和认知能力的关系

Schizophrenia (Sz) is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with core neurocognitive deficits. Although, traditional models of schizophrenia focus on dysfunction within cognitive and sensory processing cortical regions, increasing evidence has accumulated suggestive of subcortical processing impairments as well. Deficits along the subcortical visual pathways, especially involving the magnocellular visual pathway, have been tied to deficits in the generation of early cortical responses which, in turn, contribute to higher-order cortical impairments. These deficits, however, may not account for all visual information processing abnormalities in Sz. Recently, we have observed deficits in the modulation of ongoing scalp- recorded alpha activity, which appear independent of the traditional magno/parvocellular pathways, and which may be mediated by dysfunction of the “retinotectal” visual pathway, which involves the superior colliculus (SC) and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus (PuN), but which bypasses the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). At present, tools for the evaluation of the retinotectal system within neuropsychiatric populations remain limited. In this project we will conduct a side-by-side comparison of potential paradigms gleaned from the basic science literature to elicit PuN/SC activation and will study their feasibility and psychometric properties. These paradigms will then be used to assess the integrity of PuN/SC processing in Sz relative to alpha generation and cognitive performance.