Sustained versus transient brain responses in schizophrenia: the role of intrinsic neural activity

Schizophrenia patients (SZ) show early visual processing deficits in many, but not all, tasks. These deficits may be associated with dysregulation of intrinsic oscillatory activity that compromises signal-to-noise in the SZ brain. This question was studied using visual steady-state stimulation and post-steady-state presentation of transient visual stimuli. SZ had higher intrinsic oscillatory activity at the steady-state stimulation frequency (12.5 Hz) and at the 6.25 Hz subharmonic, showed a significant decrease in visual steady-state magnitude over 2 s of stimulation, and were unable to promptly terminate the steady-state response following stimulation offset. If adjustment for levels of intrinsic brain activity were made, however, it would have appeared that SZ had activity of similar magnitude as healthy subjects following steady-state stimulus termination, indicating that such adjustments could substantially alter theoretical interpretations. Visual evoked potential abnormalities (N1/P2 amplitudes) present among SZ at the initiation of steady-state stimulation were less apparent in the 750 ms immediately following steady-state stimulation offset. Higher intrinsic oscillatory brain activity may be a fundamental characteristic of SZ that merits further evaluation for understanding this disorder's neuropathological correlates and associated symptomatology.