Associations and Heritability of Auditory Encoding, Gray Matter, and Attention in Schizophrenia.

Background: Auditory encoding abnormalities, gray-matter loss, and cognitive deficits are all candidate schizophrenia (SZ) endophenotypes. This study evaluated associations between and heritability of auditory network attributes (function and structure) and attention in healthy controls (HC), SZ patients, and unaffected relatives (UR).

Methods: Whole-brain maps of M100 auditory activity from magnetoencephalography recordings, cortical thickness (CT), and a measure of attention were obtained from 70 HC, 69 SZ patients, and 35 UR.

Frontal slow-wave activity as a predictor of negative symptoms, cognition and functional capacity in schizophrenia.

Background: Increased temporal and frontal slow-wave delta (1-4 Hz) and theta (4-7 Hz) activities are the most consistent resting-state neural abnormalities reported in schizophrenia. The frontal lobe is associated with negative symptoms and cognitive abilities such as attention, with negative symptoms and impaired attention associated with poor functional capacity.

Aims: To establish whether frontal dysfunction, as indexed by slowing, would be associated with functional impairments.

Cortical thickness as a contributor to abnormal oscillations in schizophrenia?

Introduction: Although brain rhythms depend on brain structure (e.g., gray and white matter), to our knowledge associations between brain oscillations and structure have not been investigated in healthy controls (HC) or in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ).