[Quantitative analysis of EEG background activity in drug-naive schizophrenic patients]

In this study we performed quantitative EEG analyses in 12 drug-naive patients who fulfilled DSM-IIIR criteria for schizophrenia and in a group of 12 healthy subjects. The schizophrenic patients were found to have slower activity (delta and theta) than the controls. These differences were most marked in the frontal region for delta band and in the occipital region for theta band. The schizophrenic patients also had more beta 1 activity, particularly in the occipital leads. Conversely, they had less alpha 2 activity over all regions examined. Our findings indicate cerebral dysfunction in schizophrenia and are in line with the hypothesis of hypofrontality in this disorder.