Vanderhoof Tyler S, Gurvits Tamara V, Baker-Nolan Julie E, Borsook David, Elman Igor
Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, United States.
Retired, Fort Myers, FL, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2018 Oct 16;9:473. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00473. eCollection 2018.
Neurological soft signs (NSSs) are highly prevalent among patients with schizophrenia, but their pathophysiological significance remains unclear. The present study employed perceptual-motor and visuospatial processing tests that have not yet been attempted in this patient population. Patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder ( = 42) and mentally healthy subjects ( = 10) were administered Copy Figure Test, Detection and Recognition of an Object Test and Road Map Test. As compared to controls, schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients displayed significantly poorer ability to copy three-dimensional figures (namely, Necker- and hidden line elimination cubes) and to orient in space on a road-map test; group differences in copying two-dimensional figures and on objects' recognition against a background noise were not apparent. In the schizophrenia/schizoaffective group, more mistakes on the hidden line elimination cube was associated with greater body mass index and greater severity of nicotine dependence measured via the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence. The above findings replicate those of prior reports and extend them to the tasks that do not involve motivational and attentional confounds. Furthermore, the present data support the hypothesis that subtle cerebral cortical abnormalities detected with specific NSSs tests may be related to some aspects of metabolic and motivational function in patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder.
神经软体征（NSSs）在精神分裂症患者中非常普遍，但其病理生理意义仍不清楚。本研究采用了感知运动和视觉空间处理测试，这些测试尚未在该患者群体中进行过尝试。对42例精神分裂症或分裂情感性障碍患者以及10例心理健康受试者进行了临摹图形测试、物体检测与识别测试和路线图测试。与对照组相比，精神分裂症和分裂情感性障碍患者在临摹三维图形（即内克尔立方体和隐藏线消除立方体）以及在路线图测试中进行空间定向的能力明显较差；在临摹二维图形以及在背景噪声中识别物体方面，两组之间的差异不明显。在精神分裂症/分裂情感性障碍组中，隐藏线消除立方体上的更多错误与更高的体重指数以及通过尼古丁依赖弗格斯特罗姆测试测得的更高尼古丁依赖严重程度相关。上述发现重复了先前报告的结果，并将其扩展到不涉及动机和注意力混淆的任务中。此外，目前的数据支持这样一种假设，即通过特定的NSSs测试检测到的细微大脑皮质异常可能与精神分裂症/分裂情感性障碍患者的代谢和动机功能的某些方面有关。
