Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2026
Investigating the Effects of Antipsychotics and Schizotypy on the N400 Using Event-Related Potentials and Semantic Categorization
Published on: November 19, 2014
EEG synchronization to modulated auditory tones in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and schizotypal
Colleen A Brenner1, Olaf Sporns, Paul H Lysaker
1Department of Psychology, Indiana University, 1101 East Tenth St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Objective:
The authors tested whether neural synchronization deficits were present in subjects with schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder.
Method:
Amplitude-modulated tones were used to evaluate auditory steady-state evoked potential entrainment in a combined group of 21 subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, 11 subjects with schizotypal personality disorder, and 22 nonpsychiatric comparison subjects.
Results:
The schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder group exhibited decreased power compared to the schizotypal personality disorder and nonpsychiatric comparison groups. There were no differences between groups in N100 amplitude.
Conclusions:
Subjects with schizophrenia but not subjects with schizotypal personality disorder have deficits in steady-state responses to periodic stimuli, despite an intact response to sensory-evoked potentials (N100). These deficits reflect aberrant neural synchronization or resolution and may contribute to disturbed perceptual and cognitive integration in schizophrenia.
