| Autor: |
Chu RS; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Ng CM; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Chan KN; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Chan KW; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Lee HM; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Hui LM; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Chen E; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong., Chang WC; Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. |
| Abstrakt: |
Emerging evidence has indicated disrupted learned irrelevance (LIrr), a form of selective attention deficit that may contribute to psychotic symptom formation, in schizophrenia. However, previous research mostly focused on chronic patients. There is a paucity of studies on LIrr in first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (i.e., schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder; FES), which were limited by small sample size and have produced mixed results. The current study examined a LIrr effect and its relationship with positive symptom severity in 40 briefly-medicated FES patients and 42 demographically-matched healthy controls using a well-validated computerized LIrr paradigm which has been applied in chronic schizophrenia sample. Positive symptoms were assessed by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS). Our results showed that controls demonstrated intact LIrr, with significantly faster learning about previously predictive (relevant) than previously non-predictive (irrelevant) cues. Lack of such normal attention bias towards predictive over non-predictive cues was observed in FES patients, indicating their failure to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant stimuli. Nonetheless, we failed to reveal any significant correlations between learning scores, in particular learning scores for non-predictive cues, and positive symptom measures in FES patients. Learning scores were also not associated with other symptom dimensions, cognitive functions and antipsychotic dose. In conclusion, our findings indicate aberrant LIrr with impaired allocation of attention to relevant versus irrelevant stimuli in briefly-medicated FES patients. Further prospective research is warranted to clarify the longitudinal trajectory of such selective attention deficit and its association with positive symptoms and treatment response in the early course of illness. |
