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Updated: Oct 16, 2025
A Computerized Functional Skills Assessment and Training Program Targeting Technology Based Everyday Functional Skills
Published on: February 13, 2020
Evaluation of the frequency following response as a predictive biomarker of response to cognitive training in
Peter E Clayson1, Juan L Molina2, Yash B Joshi3
1Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0804 La Jolla, Tampa, CA 92093, USA.
Abstract:
Neurophysiological biomarkers of auditory processing show promise predicting outcomes following auditory-based targeted cognitive training (TCT) in schizophrenia, but the viability of the frequency following response (FFR) as a biomarker has yet to be examined, despite its ecological and face validity for auditory-based interventions. FFR is an event-related potential (ERP) that reflects early auditory processing. We predicted that schizophrenia patients would show acute- and longer-term FFR malleability in the context of TCT. Patients were randomized to either TCT (n = 30) or treatment as usual (TAU; n = 22), and electroencephalography was recorded during rapid presentation of an auditory speech stimulus before treatment, after one hour of training, and after 30 h of training. Whereas patients in the TCT group did not show changes in FFR after training, amplitude reductions were observed in the TAU. FFR was positively associated with performance on a measure of single word-in-noise perception in the TCT group, and with a measure of sentence-in-noise perception in both groups. Psychometric reliability analyses of FFR scores indicated high internal consistency but low one-hour and 12-week test-rest reliability. These findings support the dissociation between measures of speech discriminability along the hierarchy of cortical and subcortical early auditory information processing in schizophrenia.
