Abstract
EEG correlates of impairments in the processing of emotiogenic information which might reflect a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia were sought by studying the dynamics of EEG rhythm powers on presentation of neutral and emotional words in 36 patients with schizophrenia, 50 of their unaffected first-degree relatives, and 47 healthy subjects without any inherited predisposition to psychoses. In controls, passive hearing of neutral words produced minimal changes in cortical rhythms, predominantly in the form of increases in the power levels of slow and fast waves, while perception of emotional words was accompanied by generalized reductions in the power of the α and β1 rhythms and regionally specific suppression of θ and β2 activity. Patients and their relatives demonstrated reductions in power of α and β1 activity, with an increase in δ power on hearing both groups of words. Thus, differences in responses to neutral and emotional words in patients and their relatives were weaker, because of increased reactions to neutral words. These results may identify EEG reflections of pathology of involuntary attention, which is familial and, evidently, inherited in nature. No reduction in reactions to emotiogenic stimuli was seen in patients’ families.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. V. Alfimova, L. G. Uvarova, and V. I. Trubnikov, “Psychological and cerebral mechanisms of impairment of verbal associative processes in schizophrenia,” Sots. Klin. Psikhiatriya, 1, No. 1, 67–74 (2001).
A. P. Anokhin and A. B. Vedenyapin, “Genetic influences on human brain functioning,” in: Psychogenetics: A Selection [in Russian], M. V. Alfinova and I. V. Ravich-Shcherbo (eds.), Akademiya Center Press, Moscow (2006), pp. 113–142.
L. I. Aftanas, N. V. Reva, A. A. Varlamov, S. V. Pavlov, and V. P. Makhnev, “Analysis of evoked EEG synchronization and desynchronization in emotional activation in humans: temporal and topographic characteristics,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 53, No. 4, 485–494 (2003).
Zh. V. Golikova and V. B. Strelets, “Development of examination stress in people with different levels of cortical activation,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 53, No. 6, 697–704 (2003).
I. R. Il’yuchenok, “Changes in EEG frequency characteristics on perception of positively emotional, negatively emotional, and neutral words,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 46, No. 3, 457–468 (1996).
V. P. Leutin and E. I. Nikolaeva, Psychophysiological Mechanisms of Adaptation and Functional Asymmetry of the Brain [in Russian], Nauka, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk (1988).
T. M. Maryutina, “Psychological factors as determinants of genotype-environmental relationships,” Psikhol. Zh., 15, No. 2, 74–84 (1994).
O. M. Razumnikova and A. O. Bryzgalov, “Frequency-spatial organization of brain electrical activity in creative verbal thought: the role of the gender factor,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 55, No. 4, 487–495 (2005).
M. N. Rusalov and M. B. Kostyunina, “Frequency-amplitude characteristics of the left and right hemispheres in mental reproduction of emotionally colored images,” Fiziol. Cheloveka, 25, No. 5, 50–56 (1999).
L. G. Uvarova, M. V. Alfimova, and N. Yu. Savvateeva, “Neuromorphological and psychological correlates of brain electrical activity in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives,” Zh. Nevropatol. Psikhiat., 102, No. 12, 35–40 (2002).
L. G. Uvarova and M. V. Alfimova, “Characteristics of EEG dynamics during cognitive activity requiring concentrated attention (serial recordings) in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders and their relatives,” Zh. Nevropatol. Psikhiat., 105, No. 8, 41–45 (2005).
E. A. Umryukhin, T. D. Dzhebrailova, I. I. Korobeinikova, and L. V. Ivanova, “Electrophysiological correlates of individual differences in the efficiency of directed activity in students in examination situations,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 55, No. 2, 189–196 (2005).
Z. Abdi and T. Sharma, “Social cognition and its neural correlates in schizophrenia and autism,” CNS Spectr., 9, 335–343 (2004).
H. W. Cole and W. J. Ray, “EEG correlates of emotional tasks related to attentional demands,” Int. J. Psychophysiol., 3, 33–41 (1985).
J. Edwards, H. J. Jackson, and P. E. Pattison, “Emotion recognition via facial expression and affective prosody in schizophrenia: a methodological review,” Clin. Psychol. Rev., 22, 789–832 (2002).
T. Fehr, J. Kissler, C. Wienbruch, S. Moratti, T. Elbert, H. Watzl, and B. Rockstroh, “Source distribution of neuromagnetic slow-wave activity in schizophrenic patients — effects of activation,” Schizophr. Res., 63, 63–71 (2003).
T. Harmony, T. Fernandez, J. Silva, J. Bernal, L. Diaz-Comas, A. Reyes, E. Marosi, and M. Rodriguez, “EEG delta activity: an indicator of attention to internal processing during performance of mental tasks,” Int. J. Psychophysiol., 24, 161–171 (1996).
T. Itil, “Qualitative and quantitative EEG findings in schizophrenia,” Schizophr. Bull., 3, 61–79 (1977).
C. Kessler and A. Kling, “EEG power variation in schizophrenic subgroups: effects of emotionally salient stimuli,” Biol. Psychiatry, 15, 335–348 (1991).
Z. J. Koles, J. C. Lind, and P. Flor-Henry, “A source-imaging (low-resolution electromagnetic tomography) study of the EEGs from unmedicated men with schizophrenia,” Psychiatr. Res.: Neuroimaging, 130, 171–190 (2004).
A. Kring, “Emotion in schizophrenia: old mystery, new understanding,” Curr. Direct. Psychol. Sci., 8, 160–163 (1999).
A. M. Kring, L. F. Barrett, and B. E. Gard, “On the broad applicability of the affective circumplex: representations of affective knowledge among schizophrenia patients,” Psychol. Sci., 14, 207–214 (2003).
S. Kugelmass, J. Marcus, and J. Schmueli, “Psychophysiological reactivity in high-risk children,” Schizophr. Bull., 11, 66–73 (1985).
E. Minami, N. Tusur, and T. Okita, “Effect of subject’s family name on visual event-related potential in schizophrenia,” Biol. Psychiatry, 31, 681–689 (1992).
M. Ozgoren, C. Basar-Eroglu, and E. Basar, “Beta oscillations in face recognition,” Int. J. Psychophysiol., 55, 51–59 (2005).
G. Pfurtscheller, “Functional brain imaging based on ERD/ERS,” Vision Res., 41, 1257–1260 (2001).
M. Streit, A. Ioannides, Th. Sinneman, W. Wolwer, J. Dammers, K. Zilles, and W. Gaebel, “Disturbed facial affect recognition in patients with schizophrenia associated with hypoactivity in distributed brain regions: A magnetoencephalographic study,” Amer. J. Psychiatry, 158, 1429–1436 (2001).
R. Toomey, L. J. Seidman, M. J. Lyons, S. V. Faraone, and M. T. Tsuang, “Poor perception of nonverbal social-emotional cues in relatives of schizophrenic patients,” Schizophr. Res., 40, 121–130 (1999).
S. Weiss and P. Rappelsberger, “Long-range EEG synchronization during word encoding correlates with successful memory performance,” Cogn. Brain Res., 9, 299–312 (2000).
G. Winterer, M. F. Egan, R. Radler, T. Hyde, E. Coppola, and D. R. Weinberger, “An association between reduced interhemispheric EEG coherence in the temporal lobe and genetic risk for schizophrenia,” Schizophr. Res., 49, 129–143 (2001).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
__________
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 426–436, July–August, 2007.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alfimova, M.V., Uvarova, L.G. Changes in EEG spectral power on perception of neutral and emotional words in patients with schizophrenia, their relatives, and healthy subjects from the general population. Neurosci Behav Physi 38, 533–540 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-008-9013-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-008-9013-6