Memory deficits in schizophrenia are pervasive, and considered by some to be a cardinal feature of the illness. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms associated with these deficits. This project will investigate the functional neural circuitry involved in memory processing by recording EEG from patients with schizophrenia during a visual memory task. By using a delayed match-to-sample paradigm that has been shown to activate spatially distinct regions of the brain in animal studies, precise timing of stimulus encoding, memory maintenance and recognition stages of memory processing will be distinguished with both well-characterized ERPs and recently developed dynamic techniques such as phase and power across time. These methods allow 1) investigation of the role of synchronized neural activity associated with each stage of memory function, 2) examination of the relationships between each stage, 3) determination of the relationships between EEG activity and performance. The strength of this study lies in the incorporation of different levels of analyses to investigate the functional neural activity associated with memory deficits in schizophrenia. Characterizing this activity will lead to a better understanding of the functional circuitry inherent to the disorder and how this dysfunctional system translates into aberrant behavior. ? ?
| Brenner, Colleen A; Edwards, Chad R; Carroll, Christine A et al. (2004) P50 and acoustic startle gating are not related in healthy participants. Psychophysiology 41:702-8 |
