Volz H P, Mackert A, Frick K, Bücker U
Free University of Berlin, Department of Psychiatry, Germany.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 1994 Mar;27(2):59-62. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-1014277.
Well-established findings in schizophrenics suggest that they have difficulties in interpreting contextual information. We used electrophysiological means to investigate this hypothesis. The N 400 paradigm was used in 29 acute schizophrenic patients and 28 controls. The main findings were a changed topographical distribution of amplitude in the schizophrenic group; that is, a reduced amplitude at the frontal sites and a pronunciation at the occipital sites. We did not find latency differences. When remitted patients (n = 17) were reinvestigated, a negative correlation of the amplitude to the total amount of neuroleptics used was found. These results are discussed in relation to structural and functional findings supporting the hypofrontality hypothesis in schizophrenia.
