Related Experiment Videos
Left hemispheric overactivation in schizophrenia: relationship to clockwise circling
Psychiatry Research
|March 1, 1987
Summary
Schizophrenia patients who did not exhibit clockwise circling (CC) showed increased left hemisphere brain activity. This suggests absent CC may indicate a more severe schizophrenia form with left-sided overarousal.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder.
- Cerebral hemisphere lateralization and arousal patterns are implicated in schizophrenia.
- Clockwise circling (CC) and lateral eye movements (LEM) are behavioral measures studied in relation to schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between clockwise circling (CC), lateral eye movement (LEM) responses, and cerebral hemisphere arousal in schizophrenic patients.
- To explore differences in CC and LEM responses among schizophrenic patients, nonschizophrenic patients, and nonpsychiatric controls.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of clockwise circling (CC) and lateral eye movement (LEM) responses to verbal and spatial stimuli.
- Inclusion of three groups: schizophrenic patients, nonschizophrenic patients, and nonpsychiatric controls.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenic subjects without CC demonstrated inappropriate left hemisphere arousal to spatial stimuli.
- A higher frequency of CC was observed in paranoid compared to nonparanoid schizophrenic patients.
Conclusions:
- The absence of CC may correlate with a more severe form of schizophrenia.
- Schizophrenia characterized by absent CC might involve overarousal of the left cerebral hemisphere.