Use of Advance Information in Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

To document possible motor disturbance in schizophrenia, we examined the ability to use advance information (or cues) to plan movements in a sequential button pressing task in 12 Clozapine medicated patients. Programming of movements under various cues revealed that patients with schizophrenia, relative to controls, initiated movements slower to the right than left, providing possible evidence for right hemineglect (left hemisphere dysfunction). Additionally, patients with schizophrenia had difficulty in the initiation of movements in the absence of a cue, suggesting internal cue generation difficulty for movement related to some form of fronto-striatal disturbance. Motor abnormalities were predominantly observed at the level of movement initiation, but not execution, contrary to basal ganglia disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

Proximity to Clinical Onset Influences Motor and Cognitive Performance in Presymptomatic Huntington Disease Gene Carriers

“…For both controls and PSGCs, MT improved with increasing advance information. This is consistent with previous findings, 26,37 and reflects the advantage provided by successively earlier presentation of the visual cue indicating the next button to be pressed. DT was slower only for the high advance information condition, perhaps reflecting increased time spent preparing movements in the earliest cued condition.…”

Compensatory mechanisms underlie intact task-switching performance in schizophrenia

“…Therefore, it would appear that patients can prepare effectively for an externally cued switch, but have difficulty preparing for an internally cued switch (see also Williams, Phillips, Bellgrove, Bradshaw, Bradshaw & Pantelis, 2000). This finding is reminiscent of a specific deficit with internally cued as compared to externally cued switching in patients with Parkinsons's disease, a disorder associated with dopaminergic cell death in the substantia nigra (Werheid, Koch, Reichert & Brass, 2007).…”

Utilisation of Advance Motor Information is Impaired in Friedreich Ataxia

“…The second task examined participants' capacity to utilise information about target position presented in total prior to initiation of movement and then attenuated under three conditions of low, moderate or high reduction in advance information (reduction in advance information). Both tasks provide information about capacity to utilise advance information to prepare and execute movement and have previously been employed in studies of Parkinson's disease [23], Huntington's disease [24], schizophrenia [25], Tourette syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [26,27]. Collectively, results from these studies have led the authors to propose that the basal ganglia and their interconnections with the thalamocortical areas are key structures involved in planning and executing movement sequences online [23,27], with relatively little if any reference to the possible role of the cerebellum.…”