Role of aberrant neural oscillations for multisensory processing deficits in schizophrenia

兴奋和抑制状态的周期性波动反映在神经振荡中，对皮层网络中的信息处理至关重要。神经连接功能障碍与异常振荡有关，可能与精神分裂症(SCZ)的病理生理学有关。检测SCZ中神经振荡的研究主要使用了单感觉刺激方案。最近的行为和神经成像研究也表明SCZ存在多感觉加工缺陷，但这些缺陷背后的神经生理学机制尚不清楚。多感觉刺激的整合需要跨多个感觉的信息处理，而神经振荡在其中起着重要的作用。基于这些原因，多感觉范式有望用于研究SCZ患者的神经振荡。这项提议的中心目标是检验这样一个假设，即异常神经振荡导致SCZ的多感觉处理缺陷。该项目包括四项使用多感觉范式的脑电研究，此前已在健康参与者中确定了神经振荡的影响。为了揭示SCZ中多感官加工的更全面的图景，这些实验以广泛的研究问题为特色。实验1将解决运动一致性如何影响视觉触觉刺激的处理，这反映在感觉皮质的伽马频带振荡(GBO&GT；30赫兹)中。实验2将考察噪声声学条件下的视听语音处理，表现为上颞沟的β频段振荡(13-30赫兹)。实验3将考察视听语音产生的交叉模式预测误差的加工，如在theta-band振荡(4-7赫兹)和GBO中观察到的。实验四将重点考察自上而下注意对早期诱发的GBO对基本视听刺激的影响。最先进的分析方法将被应用于检查多感觉处理，如反映在SCZ患者和健康对照组参与者的局部功率、动态网络模式和功能连接上。这些实验将揭示这些测量中的异常是否与SCZ的病理生理有关。综上所述，该项目将极大地促进我们对异常神经振荡如何导致精神分裂症多感觉处理缺陷的理解。

Periodic fluctuations of excitatory and inhibitory states, as reflected in neural oscillations, are crucial for information processing in cortical networks. Dysfunctional neural connectivity, which has been linked to abnormal oscillations, presumably contributes to the pathophysiology in schizophrenia (ScZ). Studies examining neural oscillations in ScZ have primarily used unisensory stimulation protocols. Recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies have also suggested multisensory processing deficits in ScZ, but the neurophysiologic mechanisms underlying these deficits are not well understood. The integration of multisensory stimuli requires information processing across multiple senses and neural oscillations play an important role therein. For these reasons, multisensory paradigms are promising for studying neural oscillations in ScZ patients. The central goal of this proposal is to test the assumption that abnormal neural oscillations contribute to multisensory processing deficits in ScZ. The project comprises of four electroencephalography studies using multisensory paradigms for which effects in neural oscillations have been previously established in healthy participants. To reveal a more global picture of multisensory processing in ScZ, the experiments feature a wide range of research questions. Experiment 1 will address how motion congruence affects the processing of visuotactile stimuli, as reflected in gamma-band oscillations (GBO > 30 Hz) in sensory cortices. Experiment 2 will examine audiovisual speech processing under noisy acoustic conditions, as expressed in beta-band oscillations (13-30 Hz) in the superior temporal sulcus. Experiment 3 will investigate the processing of crossmodal prediction errors generated by audiovisual speech, as observed in theta-band oscillations (4-7 Hz) and GBO. Experiment 4 will focus on the influence of top-down attention on early evoked GBO to basic audiovisual stimuli. State-of-the-art analysis approaches will be applied to examine multisensory processing, as reflected in local power, dynamic network patterns, and functional connectivity in ScZ patients and healthy control participants. The experiments will uncover whether abnormalities in these measures relate to the ScZ pathophysiology. Taken together, the project will substantially advance our understanding of how aberrant neural oscillations contribute to multisensory processing deficits in schizophrenia.