Enlarged temporal integration window in schizophrenia indicated by the double-flash illusion.

Introduction: In the present study we were interested in the processing of audio-visual integration in schizophrenia compared to healthy controls. The amount of sound-induced double-flash illusions served as an indicator of audio-visual integration. We expected an altered integration as well as a different window of temporal integration for patients.

Beyond childhood: psychiatric comorbidities and social background of adults with Asperger syndrome.

Background: Over the past few years, our knowledge about Asperger syndrome (AS) has increased enormously. Although it used to be a syndrome mainly encountered in childhood and adolescent psychiatry, it is now increasingly recognized in adult psychiatry. Nevertheless, little is known about psychiatric comorbidities and life course of adults with AS.

Is synesthesia more common in patients with Asperger syndrome?

There is increasing evidence from case reports that synesthesia is more common in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Further, genes related to synesthesia have also been found to be linked to ASC and, similar to synaesthetes, individuals with ASC show altered brain connectivity and unusual brain activation during sensory processing. However, up to now a systematic investigation of whether synesthesia is more common in ASC patients is missing.

Asperger Syndrome: a frequent comorbidity in first diagnosed adult ADHD patients?

Background: Because adult ADHD is often accompanied by psychiatric comorbidities, the diagnostic process should include a thorough investigation for comorbid disorders. Asperger-Syndrome is rarely reported in adult ADHD and commonly little attention is paid to this possible comorbidity.

Subjects And Methods: We investigated 53 adult ADHD-patients which visited our out patient clinic for first ADHD-diagnosis (17 females, 36 males; range of age: 18-56 years) for the frequency of a comorbid Asperger-Syndrome.

Word recognition memory in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as reflected by event-related potentials.

Objective: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly diagnosed in adults. In this study we address the question whether there are impairments in recognition memory.

Methods: In the present study 13 adults diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-IV and 13 healthy controls were examined with respect to event-related potentials (ERPs) in a visual continuous word recognition paradigm to gain information about recognition memory effects in these patients.

Reduced P300 and P600 amplitude in the hollow-mask illusion in patients with schizophrenia.

Illusions provide a useful tool to study the mechanisms by which top-down and bottom-up processes interact in perception. Patients suffering from schizophrenia are not as subject to the hollow-mask illusion as healthy controls, since studies have shown that controls perceive a hollow mask as a normal face, while patients with schizophrenia do not. This insusceptibility to the illusion is indicating a weakened top-down processing in schizophrenia and little is understood about the neurobiology of this phenomenon.

Neuronal correlates of ADHD in adults with evidence for compensation strategies--a functional MRI study with a Go/No-Go paradigm.

Objective: Response inhibition impairment is one of the most characteristic symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thus functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a Go/No-Go task seems to be an ideal tool for examining neuronal correlates of inhibitory control deficits in ADHD. Prior studies have shown frontostriatal abnormalities in children and adolescents.

Impaired top-down processes in schizophrenia: a DCM study of ERPs.

Perception is not simply based on a hierarchical organization of the brain; it arises from an interplay between inputs from the environment and internal predictions of these inputs. It is an active process which involves an interaction between bottom-up information coming from the senses and feedback connections coming from higher-order cortical areas. In our experiment, we use the hollow-mask illusion to investigate the strength of top-down processes in schizophrenic patients and healthy controls.

Asperger's syndrome in adulthood.

Introduction: Asperger's syndrome is one of the autism spectrum disorders. Affected individuals display considerably impaired capacity for social interaction, unusual special interests, and a tendency towards ritualized behavior.

Methods: The etiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of Asperger's syndrome in adulthood are outlined on the basis of a selective literature review via Medline and information in relevant reference books.

Understanding why patients with schizophrenia do not perceive the hollow-mask illusion using dynamic causal modelling.

Patients suffering from schizophrenia are less susceptible to various visual illusions. For example, healthy participants perceive a hollow mask as a normal face, presumably due to the strength of constraining top-down influences, while patients with schizophrenia do not (Schneider, U., Leweke, F.

Effective methylphenidate treatment of an adult Aspergers Syndrome and a comorbid ADHD: a clinical investigation with fMRI.

Objective: Aspergers Syndrome can present as comorbid with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Very few cases of the assessment and treatment of this comorbidity in adulthood are described in the research literature.

Method: A 26-year-old patient as suffering from ADHD in combination with Aspergers Syndrome is diagnosed.