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Coherence on Electroencephalography and Aberrant Functional Organisation of the Brain in Schizophrenic Patients During Activation Tasks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sandra L. Morrison-Stewart
Affiliation:
London Psychiatric Hospital
Peter C. Williamson
Affiliation:
London Psychiatric Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario
William C. Corning
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
Stanley P. Kutcher
Affiliation:
Sunnybrook Hospital, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Harold Merskey
Affiliation:
London Psychiatric Hospital, and Professor of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario

Abstract

Thirty schizophrenic patients (20 medicated, 10 off medication) were compared with 30 normal control subjects matched for age, sex, handedness, and intelligence. During the performance of left-hemisphere cognitive activation tasks, normal subjects had significantly increased EEG alpha coherence in areas related to left focal frontal sites, with decreases in temporal and posterior areas. Schizophrenic patients did not show the same degree of focal activation of left frontal areas. During the performance of right-hemisphere cognitive activation tasks, normal subjects and schizophrenic patients had similar patterns of right posterior increases in alpha coherence. Discriminant analyses were able to classify 81.4% of all subjects correctly. It is suggested that the findings indicate an aberrant functional organisation of the brain in schizophrenia, particularly affecting the left hemisphere.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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