TITLE:
Relationships among Event-Related Potentials, Memory, and Schizophrenic Symptoms in College Students with Schizotypal-Traits
AUTHORS:
Kyoung-Mi Jang, Myung-Sun Kim
KEYWORDS:
Schizotypal-Trait, Event-Related Potentials, P300, Auditory Oddball Paradigm, Cognitive-Perceptual Factor of the SPQ
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.4 No.4,
October
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: The present study investigated the relationships among event-related
potentials (ERPs), memory, and schizophrenic symptoms in college students with schizotypal-traits.
Scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) were used to
categorize the participants into schizotypal-trait (n = 30) and normal control
(n = 37) groups. ERPs were assessed using an auditory oddball paradigm, in
which a series of standard tones (1000 Hz) and target tones (1500 Hz) were
presented; participants were asked to count the number of presented target
tones. The verbal memory and visual memory of the participants were evaluated
using the Korean version of the California Verbal Learning Test (K-CVLT) and
the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT), respectively. The schizotypal-trait
and control groups did not differ in terms of age, educational level, IQ score,
accuracy on the auditory oddball task, or performance on the K-CVLT and RCFT
measures. However, the schizotypal-trait group exhibited significantly smaller P300
amplitudes than the control group. Additionally, the P300 amplitudes measured
at Cz and Pz were negatively correlated with the cognitive-perceptual factor
scores on the SPQ. Thus, the present results indicate that reduced P300
amplitudes may represent a biological marker of schizophrenia.