Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA,
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Neuropsychobiology. 2020;79(4-5):293-300. doi: 10.1159/000498921. Epub 2019 Mar 25.
Motor and cognitive abnormalities are well documented in psychosis spectrum disorders. Evidence suggests these deficits could be pronounced because of disruptions in the cerebellar-thalamic-cortical-cerebellar (CTCC) circuit, a network thought to be heavily implicated in motor and higher cognitive functioning. Although significant research has been done on this topic in individuals with schizophrenia and those at a clinical high risk for psychosis, much less is known about deficits at the lower end of the spectrum.
In this study, we extended the understanding of motor abnormalities across the psychosis continuum by examining postural sway deficits in the nonclinical psychosis (NCP) population. Furthermore, we linked these deficits to verbal and visual working memory. High-NCP (n = 37) and low-NCP control (n = 31) participants completed an instrumental balance task, highly sensitive to subtle variations in postural sway, along with a brief working memory battery.
We found that high-NCP participants presented with increased postural sway area (i.e., worse postural control) relative to low-NCP controls on a difficult condition (with limited proprioceptive cues), but not on an easier condition. Furthermore, results indicated that the sway area was correlated with poorer performance on working memory tasks in the high-NCP group.
These findings suggest that CTCC circuit abnormalities are present across the lower end of the psychosis spectrum and that they may be contributing to a range of motor and cognitive behaviors seen in the population. However, evidence suggests that the signs are subtle, and that sensitive assessment devices and challenging conditions may be necessary for detection.
运动和认知异常在精神分裂症谱系障碍中已有充分记录。有证据表明，由于小脑-丘脑-皮质-小脑（CTCC）回路的中断，这些缺陷可能更加明显，该回路被认为与运动和更高认知功能密切相关。尽管在精神分裂症患者和处于精神病高危状态的患者中对此主题进行了大量研究，但对频谱低端的缺陷知之甚少。
在这项研究中，我们通过检查非临床精神病（NCP）人群的姿势摆动缺陷，扩展了对精神分裂症连续体运动异常的理解。此外，我们将这些缺陷与言语和视觉工作记忆联系起来。高 NCP（n = 37）和低 NCP 对照组（n = 31）参与者完成了一项仪器平衡任务，该任务对姿势摆动的细微变化高度敏感，以及一项简短的工作记忆测试。
我们发现，高 NCP 参与者在困难条件下（有限的本体感受提示）相对于低 NCP 对照组的姿势摆动面积（即较差的姿势控制）增加，但在较简单的条件下没有。此外，结果表明，在高 NCP 组中，摆动面积与工作记忆任务的表现较差相关。
这些发现表明 CTCC 回路异常存在于精神病谱的低端，并且它们可能导致人群中出现一系列运动和认知行为。然而，有证据表明这些迹象很微妙，需要使用敏感的评估设备和具有挑战性的条件才能进行检测。
