Page 292 - MEGIN Book Of Abstracts - 2023

at an individual's first psychotic episode, specifically tenance of visual information in working memory, or
during conditions emphasizing bottom-up processing. visual short-term memory (vSTM), is linked to general
Examination of its cortical sources with MEG revealed cognitive dysfunction and predicts functional outcome.
that, compared to HC, FESz engaged parietal structures Lateralized change-detection tasks afford investiga-
to a greater extent during the serial search condition. tion of the contralateral delay activity (CDA), a useful
This pattern suggests a less efficient, more resource tool for investigating vSTM dysfunction. Previous work
intensive strategy employed by FESz in response to suggests "hyperfocusing" of attention in schizophre-
a minimal demand on attention. The greater reliance nia, such that CDA is increased when a single item is
on this controlled attentional network may negatively maintained in vSTM but reduced for multiple items. If
impact real-world functions with much greater com- observed early in the disease, vSTM dysfunction may
plexity and attentional demands. be a key feature of schizophrenia or target for interven-
tion. We investigated CDA during lateralized vSTM of
Keywords: First-episode, Magnetoencephalography, N2pc, one versus three items using sensor-level electroen-
Schizophrenia spectrum, Selective attention, Visual search cephalography and source-level magnetoencephalog-
raphy in 26 individuals at their first episode of schizo-
Schizophrenia research (2020), Vol. 224 (33097368) (5 phrenia-spectrum psychosis (FESz) and 26 matched
citations) healthy controls. FESz were unable to modulate CDA
with increased memory load - high-load CDA was
reduced and low-load CDA was increased compared to
Lateralized evoked responses in parietal cortex controls. Further, sources of CDA in posterior parietal
demonstrate visual short-term memory deficits in cortex were reduced in FESz and indices of working
first-episode schizophrenia (2020) memory were correlated with neurocognitive deficits
and symptom severity. These results support working
Coffman, Brian A; Murphy, Tim K; Haas, Gretchen; Olson, memory maintenance dysfunction as a central and
Carl; Cho, Raymond; Ghuman, Avniel Singh; Salisbury, early component to the disorder. Targeted intervention
Dean F focusing on vSTM deficits may be warranted to allevi-
ate downstream effects of this disability.
Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Western
Psychiatric Hospital of UPMC, Department of Psychiatry, Keywords: Contralateral delay activity, Electroencephalog-
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, raphy, First-episode schizophrenia, Magnetoencephalog-
USA; Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon raphy, Visual short-term memory, Working memory
University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Western Psychiatric Hospital
of UPMC, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Journal of psychiatric research (2020), Vol. 130 (32866678)
School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Psy- (6 citations)
chiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, TX, USA; Michael E. DeBakey Houston VA Medical
Center, Houston, TX, USA; Laboratory of Cognitive Neurody- The Visual Word Form Area compensates for
namics, Department of Neurosurgery, Presbyterian Hospital, auditory working memory dysfunction in
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, schizophrenia (2020)
USA; Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Western
Psychiatric Hospital of UPMC, Department of Psychiatry, Herman, Alexander B; Brown, Ethan G; Dale, Corby L;
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, Hinkley, Leighton B; Subramaniam, Karuna; Houde,
USA. Electronic address: SalisburyD@upmc.edu John F; Fisher, Melissa; Vinogradov, Sophia; Nagarajan,
Srikantan S
ABSTRACT Working memory dysfunction may be cen-
tral to neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Main- Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneap-

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