Multisensory integration in schizophrenia: a behavioural and event-related potential study

Abstract

Introduction Successful processing of multisensory stimuli increases the likelihood of detection or identification of salient, biologically significant events faster and more efficiently than unisensory inputs. Schizophrenia patients (SZ) show deficits in unisensory processing, but it is unclear whether impairments are seen to multisensory stimuli, a process known as multisensory integration (MSI). We used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to examine MSI in SZ and healthy controls (HC). Methods Thirty-three SZ and 30 HC completed a target detection task with unisensory and multisensory stimuli. Reaction times (RT) were measured while EEG was recorded. Two auditory (N100, P200) and visual (P100, N160) ERPs were examined. MSI was analyzed in terms of violations of RT to the race model, and by comparing ERPs in the MSI condition to the sum of the unisensory ERPs. Results Both groups showed faster RT in MSI compared to unisensory conditions. SZ had nonsignificantly fewer violations of the race model compared to HC. SZ had significantly smaller amplitudes to unisensory visual N160 and auditory P100 relative to HC; there were no significant group differences on any ERP measure of MSI. Conclusions SZ showed relatively intact MSI with subtle (nonsignificant) differences at the neural and behavioral levels compared to HC. Our results suggest that neural processes associated with MSI are not an additional source of impairment in SZ.

Beta/Gamma Oscillations and Event-Related Potentials Indicate Aberrant Multisensory Processing in Schizophrenia

“…Nevertheless, other studies did also not find differences in the perception of multisensory stimuli between SCZ and HC (Surguladze et al, 2001; Pearl et al, 2009; Martin et al, 2013; Wynn et al, 2014; Roa Romero et al, 2016a). For example, examining the McGurk illusion, Martin et al (2013), as well as Roa Romero et al (2016a) observed comparable illusion rates in SCZ and HC.…”

Atypical audiovisual temporal function in autism and schizophrenia: similar phenotype, different cause

“…In concert with the adaptive value ascribed to possessing extended windows of time over which sensory information is bound, findings suggest that the TBW is highly plastic (Powers et al ., ; Stevenson et al ., , ; Schlesinger et al ., ; De Niear et al ., ), dependent upon stimulus structure and complexity (Stevenson et al ., ), and perhaps most importantly, TBWs are anomalous in psychopathology. Indeed, while the general characterization of multisensory processes—and their temporal profile—in psychopathological conditions such as ASD and SZ populations has yield conflicting results, in the case of SZ for instance, stronger (Stone et al ., ), similar (Wynn et al ., ; Zvyagintsev et al ., ), and weaker (Williams et al ., ) multisensory facilitation vs. controls has been reported, the reports regarding multisensory TBWs in psychopathology are largely congruent—inclusively across the distinct pathologies (see Zhou et al ., ; for a recent review and meta‐analysis of multisensory temporal function in ASD and SZ). More precisely, recent work has suggested that individuals with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Foss‐Feig et al ., ; Kwakye et al ., ; Foxe et al ., ; Stevenson et al ., ; Noel et al ., , ,b) and schizophrenia (SZ; Foucher et al ., ; Martin et al ., ; Su et al ., ; Balz et al ., ; Stevenson et al ., ) possess atypically large TBWs, particularly for speech stimuli.…”

Voxel-Based Morphometry in Individuals at Genetic High Risk for Schizophrenia and Patients with Schizophrenia during Their First Episode of Psychosis

“…The findings in this study are consistent with those from prior studies of HR-SZ and FE-SZ, including direct comparisons of these groups, particularly with observations of altered frontotemporal and parietal regions in these samples; however there are some discrepancies involving regions such as the cingulate cortex, thalamus, and basal ganglia and in hemispheric lateralization that may be attributed to differences in ethnic background, sample size, definition of HR-SZ, medication exposure, and methodological techniques [ 3 , 5 , 6 , 13 , 15 – 20 ]. In general, our findings indicate abnormalities in frontal, temporal, and parietal regions involved in language, sensory processing, and somatosensory integration in SZ, as well as alterations in the cerebellum, for which there is mounting evidence of its role in cognitive processes in SZ in addition to its known roles in motor coordination and sensory integration [ 21 – 24 ]. This is of particular interest as prior studies suggest impaired multisensory integration (MSI) involving these regions in the development and pathophysiology of SZ[ 25 – 28 ].…”