Event-related potentials elicited by the Deutsch “high-low” word illusion in the patients with first-episode schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

You Xu¹  Qianqian Gao¹  Hongying Fan¹  Hao Chai¹  Bingren Zhang¹  Wei Wang²  Yonghua Zhang³  Hongjing Mao³  Leilei Zheng⁴ 

[1] Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China;Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China;Department of Clinical Psychology, Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China;Department of Clinical Psychology, Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China;Department of Psychiatry, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China;

关键词: Auditory hallucinations;    Deutsch “high-low” word illusion;    Event-related potentials;    Paranoid schizophrenia;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-016-0747-3

 received in 2015-07-30, accepted in 2016-02-12,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe exact cerebral structural and functional mechanisms under the auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia are still unclear. The Deutsch “high-low” word illusion might trigger attentional responses mimicking those under AVHs.MethodsWe therefore have invited 16 patients with first-episode, paranoid schizophrenia, and 16 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers to undergo the “oddball” event-related potentials elicited by the illusion. The clinical characteristics of patients were measured with the positive and negative symptom scale.ResultsBesides the longer reaction time to the illusion, the standard P2 latency was shortened, the N2 latency was prolonged, and both N1 and P3 amplitudes were reduced in patients. The P3 source analyses showed the activated bilateral temporal lobes, parietal lobe and cingulate cortex in both groups, left inferior temporal gyrus in controls, and left postcentral gyrus in schizophrenia. Moreover, the N1 amplitude was positively correlated with the paranoid score in patients.ConclusionsOur results were in line with previous neurophysiological and neuroimaging reports of hallucination or auditory processing in schizophrenia, and illustrated a whole process of cerebral information processing from N1 to P3, indicating this illusion had triggered a dynamic cerebral response similar to that of the AVHs had engaged.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Xu et al. 2016