Department of Psychology, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil; Perception, Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil.
Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
J Psychiatr Res. 2022 May;149:323-330. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.03.014. Epub 2022 Mar 13.
The use of noninvasive tools can help understand mental states and changes that are caused by medications, symptom severity, and other clinical variables. We investigated low-level visual processing using the contrast sensitivity function (CSF), a reliable, robust, and widely used approach. Our main purpose was (1) to evaluate visual impairments in schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD) patients and (2) to investigate associations between clinical variables and visual function in both diseases. Fifty-six healthy controls (HCs; mean age = 31.04 years), 42 BPD patients (mean age = 32.84 years) who took only lithium, and 39 SCZ patients who took only olanzapine (mean age = 32.80 years) were recruited for this study. CSF differed between groups. Both groups of patients exhibited lower discrimination at low, mid-, and high spatial frequencies compared with HCs. No differences were observed between patients, with the exception of high spatial frequency. These impairments were also related to clinical variables, revealed by a strong effect in the mediation analyses. These findings may aid investigations of other clinical variables and the role of state- and trait-like effects on visual and cognitive processing in these patient populations. This study underscores the need for visual remediation interventions.
使用非侵入性工具可以帮助了解由药物、症状严重程度和其他临床变量引起的精神状态和变化。我们使用对比敏感度函数（CSF）来研究低水平视觉处理，这是一种可靠、强大且广泛使用的方法。我们的主要目的是：（1）评估精神分裂症（SCZ）和双相情感障碍（BPD）患者的视觉障碍；（2）探讨两种疾病的临床变量与视觉功能之间的关联。本研究共招募了 56 名健康对照组（HCs；平均年龄 31.04 岁）、42 名仅服用锂的 BPD 患者（平均年龄 32.84 岁）和 39 名仅服用奥氮平的 SCZ 患者（平均年龄 32.80 岁）。CSF 在组间存在差异。与 HCs 相比，两组患者在低、中、高空间频率下的辨别力均较低。除了高空间频率外，患者之间没有差异。这些损伤也与临床变量有关，中介分析显示出很强的影响。这些发现可能有助于研究其他临床变量以及状态和特质效应对这些患者群体的视觉和认知处理的作用。本研究强调了视觉矫正干预的必要性。
