Citation

De Sanctis P, Foxe JJ, Czobor P, Wylie GR, Kamiel SM, Huening J, Nair-Collins M, Krakowski MI. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci. 2013; 8(6): 678-687.

Affiliation

Departments of Pediatrics and Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building - 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue Bronx, N.Y. 10461, USA. psanctis@einstein.yu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/scan/nss052

PMID

22563006

Abstract

Individuals with schizophrenia are more prone to violent behaviors than the general population. It is increasingly recognized that processing of emotionally valenced stimuli is impaired in schizophrenia, a deficit that may play a role in aggressive behavior. Our goal was to establish whether patients with a history of violence would show more severe deficits in processing emotionally valenced inputs than nonviolent patients. Using event-related-potentials, we measured how early during processing of emotional valence, evidence of aberrant function was observed. Forty-two schizophrenia patients (21 with history of violence;21 without) and twenty-eight healthy controls were tested. Participants performed an inhibitory control task, making speeded responses to pictorial stimuli. Pictures occasionally repeated twice and participants withheld responses to these repeats. Valenced pictures from the International Affective Picture System were presented. Results in controls showed modulations during the earliest phases of sensory processing (<100ms) for negatively valenced pictures. A cascade of modulations ensued, involving sensory and perceptual processing stages. In contrast, neither schizophrenia group showed early differentiation. Non-violent patients showed earliest modulations beginning ∼150ms. For violent patients, however, earliest modulations were further delayed and highly attenuated. The current study reveals sensory-perceptual processing dysfunction for negatively valenced inputs, which is particularly pronounced in aggressive patients.

Language: en