Out-of-Synch and Out-of-Sorts: Dysfunction of motor-sensory communication in schizophrenia

摘要

BackgroundPhase synchronization of neural activity preceding a motor act may reflect an “efference copy” of the motor plan and its expected sensory consequences (“corollary discharge”), which is sent to sensory cortex to herald the arrival of self-generated sensations and dampen the resulting sensory experience. We performed time-frequency decomposition of response-locked EEG to examine phase synchronization of oscillations across trials (phase-locking factor, PLF) to self-paced button-presses. If pre-press PLF reflects the activity in motor cortex, it should be contra-lateralized. If it reflects the action of the efference copy, it should be related to subsequent sensory suppression. If efference copy/corollary discharge mechanisms are abnormal in schizophrenia, it should be reduced in patients with schizophrenia.