Division of Experimental Therapeutics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Schizophrenia Research Division, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA.
Transl Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 23;13(1):360. doi: 10.1038/s41398-023-02656-3.
Motor learning is a fundamental skill to our daily lives. Dysfunction in motor performance in schizophrenia (Sz) has been associated with poor social and functional outcomes. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive electrical brain stimulation approach, can influence underlying brain function with potential for improving motor learning in Sz. We used a well-established Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) to study motor learning, in combination with simultaneous tDCS and EEG recording, to investigate mechanisms of motor and procedural learning deficits in Sz, and to develop refined non-invasive brain stimulation approaches to improve neurocognitive dysfunction. We recruited 27 individuals with Sz and 21 healthy controls (HC). Individuals performed the SRTT task as they received sham and active tDCS with simultaneous EEG recording. Reaction time (RT), neuropsychological, and measures of global functioning were assessed. SRTT performance was significantly impaired in Sz and showed significant correlations with motor-related and working memory measures as well as global function. Source-space time-frequency decomposition of EEG showed beta-band coherence across supplementary-motor, primary-motor and visual cortex forming a network involved in SRTT performance. Motor-cathodal and visual-cathodal stimulations resulted in significant modulation in coherence particularly across the motor-visual nodes of the network accompanied by significant improvement in motor learning in both controls and patients. Here, we confirm earlier reports of SRTT impairment in Sz and demonstrate significant reversal of the deficits with tDCS. The findings support continued development of tDCS for enhancement of plasticity-based interventions in Sz, as well as source-space EEG analytic approaches for evaluating underlying neural mechanisms.
运动学习是我们日常生活中的基本技能。精神分裂症（Sz）患者的运动表现功能障碍与较差的社会和功能结果有关。经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）是一种非侵入性的大脑电刺激方法，可以影响潜在的大脑功能，有可能改善 Sz 患者的运动学习。我们使用了一种成熟的序列反应时间任务（SRTT）来研究运动学习，同时进行 tDCS 和 EEG 记录，以研究 Sz 患者运动和程序学习缺陷的机制，并开发出更精细的非侵入性脑刺激方法来改善神经认知功能障碍。我们招募了 27 名 Sz 患者和 21 名健康对照组（HC）。个体在接受假刺激和真刺激的同时进行 SRTT 任务，并进行 EEG 记录。评估反应时间（RT）、神经心理学和整体功能测量。Sz 患者的 SRTT 表现明显受损，与运动相关和工作记忆测量以及整体功能显著相关。EEG 的源空间时频分解显示，补充运动、初级运动和视觉皮层之间的β波段相干性形成了一个涉及 SRTT 表现的网络。运动阴极和视觉阴极刺激导致相干性显著调制，特别是在网络的运动-视觉节点之间，同时伴随着对照组和患者的运动学习显著改善。在这里，我们证实了 Sz 患者 SRTT 受损的早期报告，并证明了 tDCS 可以显著逆转这些缺陷。这些发现支持继续开发 tDCS 以增强基于可塑性的 Sz 干预措施，以及源空间 EEG 分析方法来评估潜在的神经机制。
