Occipital Alpha Connectivity During Resting-State Electroencephalography in Patients With Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis and Schizophrenia

Abnormal functional connectivity is assumed to underlie neurocognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia. As individuals with an ultra-high risk for psychosis have neurocognitive deficits that are mainly reflected in the alpha rhythm, the identification of neural networks is essential to our understanding of the disorder. We investigated the functional connectivity of the alpha rhythm during resting state EEG as a potential biomarker of clinical risk and schizophrenia and explored correlations between cognitive functioning and clinical symptoms. The participants included 28 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES), 28 individuals with ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR), and 28 healthy controls (HC). The participants underwent a structured clinical interview to assess symptoms and completed a computerized battery to assess the major domains of neurocognitive functioning. Resting state EEG was recorded for 3 minutes under eyes-closed conditions. The data were segmented into 3-second artefact-free epochs, and the functional connectivity of the alpha phase was estimated using the phase lag index (PLI), which captures the true synchronization of EEG signals. The FES and UHR groups displayed increased resting-state PLI connectivity compared with the HC group (F (2,74) = 10.804, p
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research