[Interest of recording Event Related Potentials (ERP) in the knowledge of schizophrenic disorders]

Event Related Potentials (ERP) can be recorded from the scalp and are related to psychic processes induced by some "event". This "event" can be either a physical one or a psychological one. ERP recorded in schizophrenic patients give some informations about pathological changes of attentional mechanisms specifically disturbed by the illness, as many researches shown it. Moreover, changes in the lateralization of brain electrical activities, correlated with some abnormalities observed with brain imaging methods, give some new data on brain tissue disturbances known to be specific of some schizophrenic disorders. Further developments of these psychophysiological methods might contribute to obtain, in the future, a better knowledge of specific pathological mechanisms underlying schizophrenic disorders.