TY - JOUR
T1 - Gaze-triggered orienting is reduced in chronic schizophrenia
AU - Akiyama, Tomoko
AU - Kato, Motoichiro
AU - Muramatsu, Taro
AU - Maeda, Takaki
AU - Hara, Tsunekatsu
AU - Kashima, Haruo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work has been partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas “Emergence of Adaptive Motor Function through Interaction between Body, Brain and Environment” from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to M. K.
PY - 2008/4/15
Y1 - 2008/4/15
N2 - Patients with schizophrenia have been reported to demonstrate subtle impairment in gaze processing, which in some cases indicates hypersensitivity to gaze, while in others, hyposensitivity. The neural correlate of gaze processing is situated in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), a major portion of which is constituted by the superior temporal gyrus (STG), and may be the underlying dysfunctional neural basis to the abnormal gaze sensitivity in schizophrenia. To identify the characteristics of gaze behavior in patients with chronic schizophrenia, in whom the STG has been reported to be smaller in volume, we tested 22 patients (mean duration of illness 29 years) in a spatial cueing paradigm using two central pictorial gaze cues, both of which effectively triggered attentional orienting in 22 age-matched normal controls. Arrow cues were also employed to determine whether any compromise in schizophrenia, if present, was gaze-specific. Results demonstrated that schizophrenic subjects benefit significantly less from congruent cues than normal subjects, which was evident for gaze cues but not for arrow cues. This finding is suggestive of a relatively gaze-specific hyposensitivity in patients with chronic schizophrenia, a finding that is in line with their clinical symptomatology and that may be associated with a hypoactive STS.
AB - Patients with schizophrenia have been reported to demonstrate subtle impairment in gaze processing, which in some cases indicates hypersensitivity to gaze, while in others, hyposensitivity. The neural correlate of gaze processing is situated in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), a major portion of which is constituted by the superior temporal gyrus (STG), and may be the underlying dysfunctional neural basis to the abnormal gaze sensitivity in schizophrenia. To identify the characteristics of gaze behavior in patients with chronic schizophrenia, in whom the STG has been reported to be smaller in volume, we tested 22 patients (mean duration of illness 29 years) in a spatial cueing paradigm using two central pictorial gaze cues, both of which effectively triggered attentional orienting in 22 age-matched normal controls. Arrow cues were also employed to determine whether any compromise in schizophrenia, if present, was gaze-specific. Results demonstrated that schizophrenic subjects benefit significantly less from congruent cues than normal subjects, which was evident for gaze cues but not for arrow cues. This finding is suggestive of a relatively gaze-specific hyposensitivity in patients with chronic schizophrenia, a finding that is in line with their clinical symptomatology and that may be associated with a hypoactive STS.
KW - Ambiguous stimulus
KW - Arrow
KW - Biological motion
KW - Spatial cueing
KW - Superior temporal gyrus
KW - Superior temporal sulcus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40149106767&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=40149106767&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.004
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 18262285
AN - SCOPUS:40149106767
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 158
SP - 287
EP - 296
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - 3
ER -
