Topography of CNV and PINV in schizotypal personality.

The topography of the postimperative negative variation (PINV) was analyzed in participants with high and low scores on the German version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. Scalp amplitude and Laplacian maps of the terminal contingent negative variation (tCNV) and PINV and the time course of the PINV were compared between the two groups. CNV and PINV were induced with a delayed matching-to-sample task, in which the pattern of the imperative stimulus was either clearly or ambiguous matched to one of the two diamonds simultaneously presented as a warning stimulus 4.0 s earlier. Electroencephalograms were recorded with a DC amplifier (32 channels). Negativity increased from tCNV to PINV, especially at frontal sites, and the PINV was larger under ambiguous than under clear matching conditions. Low-scoring participants showed a right-sided predominance of the PINV, which was absent in high-scoring participants. These results resemble differences in the topography of the PINV between healthy control participants and those with schizophrenia under identical experimental conditions and suggest functional differences between tCNV and PINV.