Scalp EEG Test May Be Able to Predict Future Psychosis | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (Formerly NARSAD)

Derived from scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, mismatch negativity is an EEG signal that is automatically elicited from the auditory cortex and frontal lobe of the brain in response to hearing sounds that deviate from preceding sounds. The response occurs even when we are not paying attention to the sounds. Believed to reflect the ability to form short-term memory, mismatch negativity has been shown to be deficient in patients with schizophrenia. In this study, the researchers assessed mismatch negativity in patients with schizophrenia, patients at clinically assessed high risk for psychosis and healthy controls. Mismatch negativity was deficient in the patients with schizophrenia, as expected, and also in the high-risk patients. Observed over a 12-month period, mismatch negativity was significantly reduced in those who ultimately developed a psychotic disorder. “Our study results show that mismatch negativity deficits precede the onset of psychosis in clinical high-risk individuals, and further shows that the larger the deficit, the more imminent the risk for conversion to a psychotic disorder,” Dr. Mathalon stated. “Importantly, our study results converge with those reported by several other studies from researchers in Europe and Asia.”

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