Deficits and compensation: Attentional control cortical networks in schizophrenia

Visual processing and attention deficits are responsible for a substantial portion of the disability caused by schizophrenia, but the source of these deficits remains unclear. In 35 schizophrenia patients (SzP) and 34 healthy controls (HC), we used a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) visual search task designed to activate/deactivate the cortical components of the attentional control system (i.e. the dorsal and ventral attention networks, lateral prefrontal regions in the frontoparietal network, and cingulo-opercular/salience networks), along with resting state functional connectivity, to examine the integrity of these components. While we find that behavioral performance and activation/deactivation of the RSVP task are largely similar between groups, SzP exhibited decreased functional connectivity within late visual components and between prefrontal and other components. We also find that performance correlates with the deactivation of the ventral attention network in SzP only. This relationship is mediated by the functional connectivity of critical components of the attentional control system. In summary, our results suggest that the attentional control system is potentially used to compensate for visual cortex deficits. Furthermore, prefrontal deficits in SzP may interfere with this compensatory use of the attentional control system. In addition to highlighting focal deficits and potential compensatory mechanisms in visual processing and attention, our findings point to the attentional control system as a potential target for rehabilitation and neuromodulation-based treatments for visual processing deficits in SzP.