Peterburs Jutta, Nitsch Alexander M, Miltner Wolfgang H R, Straube Thomas
Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013 Jun 27;8(6):e67615. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067615. Print 2013.
Time processing critically relies on the mesencephalic dopamine system and striato-prefrontal projections and has thus been suggested to play a key role in schizophrenia. Previous studies have provided evidence for an acceleration of the internal clock in schizophrenia that may be linked to dopaminergic pathology. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between altered time processing in schizophrenia and symptom manifestation in 22 patients and 22 controls. Subjects were required to estimate the time needed for a visual stimulus to complete a horizontal movement towards a target position on trials of varying cognitive demand. It was hypothesized that patients - compared to controls - would be less accurate at estimating the movement time, and that this effect would be modulated by symptom manifestation and task difficulty. In line with the notion of an accelerated internal clock due to dopaminergic dysregulation, particularly patients with severe positive symptoms were expected to underestimate movement time. However, if altered time perception in schizophrenia was better explained in terms of cognitive deficits, patients with severe negative symptoms should be specifically impaired, while generally, task performance should correlate with measures of processing speed and cognitive flexibility. Patients underestimated movement time on more demanding trials, although there was no link to disease-related cognitive dysfunction. Task performance was modulated by symptom manifestation. Impaired estimation of movement time was significantly correlated with PANSS positive symptom scores, with higher positive symptom scores associated with stronger underestimation of movement time. The present data thus support the notion of a deficit in anticipatory and predictive mechanisms in schizophrenia that is modulated both by symptom manifestation and by cognitive demand.
时间处理严重依赖中脑多巴胺系统和纹状体-前额叶投射，因此有人提出其在精神分裂症中起关键作用。先前的研究为精神分裂症患者内部时钟加速提供了证据，这可能与多巴胺能病理有关。本研究旨在评估22例患者和22例对照中精神分裂症患者时间处理改变与症状表现之间的关系。要求受试者在不同认知需求的试验中估计视觉刺激朝着目标位置完成水平移动所需的时间。假设与对照组相比，患者在估计移动时间方面准确性较低，并且这种效应会受到症状表现和任务难度的调节。根据多巴胺能调节异常导致内部时钟加速的观点，预计特别是具有严重阳性症状的患者会低估移动时间。然而，如果精神分裂症患者时间感知改变更好地用认知缺陷来解释，那么具有严重阴性症状的患者应该会受到特别损害，而一般来说，任务表现应该与处理速度和认知灵活性的测量指标相关。患者在要求更高的试验中低估了移动时间，尽管这与疾病相关的认知功能障碍没有关联。任务表现受到症状表现的调节。移动时间估计受损与阳性和阴性症状评定量表（PANSS）阳性症状评分显著相关，阳性症状评分越高，移动时间低估越严重。因此，目前的数据支持精神分裂症患者预期和预测机制存在缺陷的观点，这种缺陷受到症状表现和认知需求的调节。
