Subtypes of Schizophrenia: ERPs During Memory Processing

描述（由申请人提供）：精神分裂症患者及其亲属存在工作记忆和情景记忆障碍，表明这可能代表精神分裂症的“认知表型”。本项目拟采用脑事件相关电位（ERPs）和行为测量方法对精神分裂症患者的工作记忆和识别记忆进行研究。erp的精细时间分辨率将有助于确定与这些记忆测试异常相关的特定处理阶段（编码、存储和检索）。在单词序列位置测试中的初步ERP结果表明，精神分裂症患者与短期单词存储相关的左额叶慢波减少，并且在单词识别记忆测试中的异常早在刺激开始后100至200毫秒就很明显。记录单词和面部的erp将提供关于精神分裂症患者记忆功能异常和大脑偏侧的物质特异性的额外信息。记录60例未服药的精神分裂症患者、60例接受非典型抗精神病药物治疗的患者和60名健康对照者在连续位置测试和单词和面部刺激的识别记忆测试中的erp。患者和对照组还将接受标准的神经认知测试，包括注意力（CPT）、学习和记忆（WMS-R）以及解决问题（WCST）。将对未服药患者、服药患者和健康对照者进行比较，以确定他们在这些测试中的表现和脑erp的差异是否与服药状态有关。此外，将比较患者亚组和对照组的ERP和行为数据，从而有助于识别和验证具有更均匀临床和生物学特征的“认知亚型”。一系列研究已经确定了一个亚组患者，他们在注意力和音调感知筛选测试中表现得和健康成年人一样好，但在言语记忆中有选择性缺陷（鉴别者，Dsz），而另一个亚组患者，在筛选测试中表现不佳，显示出广义认知缺陷的证据（非鉴别者，NDsz）。该项目旨在进一步验证这些亚组，通过测试他们的物质特异性记忆功能的假设差异，记忆处理不同阶段的ERP异常，标准神经认知测试的缺陷和症状特征。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Working memory and episodic memory impairments are present in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives, suggesting that it may represent a "cognitive phenotype" of schizophrenia. This project proposes to use brain event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures to study both working memory and recognition memory for words and faces in patients with schizophrenia. The fine temporal resolution of ERPs will aid in determining the specific stages of processing (encoding, storage and retrieval) associated with abnormalities on these memory tests. Preliminary ERP findings during a word serial position test suggest that a left-frontal slow wave associated with short-term storage of words is reduced in schizophrenia patients, and abnormalities during a word recognition memory test are evident as early as 100 to 200 milliseconds after stimulus onset. Recording ERPs to both words and faces will provide additional information concerning material-specificity of abnormalities of memory function and cerebral laterality in schizophrenia. ERPs of 60 unmedicated schizophrenic patients, 60 patients receiving an atypical antipsychotic, and 60 healthy controls will be recorded during serial position tests and recognition memory tests with word and face stimuli. Patients and controls will also be tested on standard neurocognitive tests of attention (CPT), learning and memory (WMS-R), and problem solving (WCST). Unmedicated patients, medicated patients and healthy controls will be compared to determine whether differences in their performance and brain ERPs on these tests are related to medication status. In addition, ERP and behavioral data for patient subgroups and controls will be compared so as to contribute toward the identification and validation of "cognitive subtypes" with more homogeneous clinical and biological characteristics. A series of studies has identified a subgroup of patients who perform as well as healthy adults on a screening test of attention and tonal perception, but who have a selective deficit in verbal memory (discriminators, Dsz), while a second subgroup of patients, who perform poorly on the screening test, show evidence of a generalized cognitive deficit (non-discriminators, NDsz). The project aims to further validate these subgroups by testing hypothesized differences in their material-specific memory function, ERP abnormalities during different phases of memory processing, deficits on standard neurocognitive tests, and symptom features.