Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 58, Issue 12, 15 December 2005, Pages 937-946
Biological Psychiatry

Original article
Global–Local Visual Processing in Schizophrenia: Evidence for an Early Visual Processing Deficit

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.053Get rights and content

Background

Abnormalities in early-stage visual processing might contribute to observed higher neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia, but to date no clear link has been established. Schizophrenia has been associated with deficits in the magnocellular visual pathway, suggesting a relative bias for processing elemental (local) as opposed to configural (global) aspects of a hierarchical stimulus; however, global–local paradigm studies in schizophrenia have yielded mixed results.

Methods

In the current study, global–local and event-related potential (ERP) procedures were concomitantly used to assess temporal and spatial characteristics of hierarchical visual stimulus processing abnormalities.

Results

Patients (n = 24) had slower and less accurate responses to global stimuli than a healthy comparison group (n = 29). They exhibited a marked decrement in N150 ERP amplitude, which correlated with speed of response to global stimuli. They also failed to show an augmented P300 response to local stimuli.

Conclusions

Behavioral and physiological data are consistent and support a global visual processing deficit in schizophrenia. This is manifest at a relatively early stage of visual processing and might relate to physiological disturbances in areas V3/V3a of the extrastriate cortex.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample consisted of 24 stable outpatients (14 male) with schizophrenia. The comparison group was 29 healthy individuals (15 male) with no history of schizophrenia or affective illness in a first-degree relative. Average (SD) duration of illness was 7.71 (7.56) years. All but one patient was medicated, 17 with atypical and 6 with typical antipsychotics. All subjects underwent medical, neurological and psychiatric evaluations (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV [SCID], Patient or

Performance Data

The analysis of RT (Table 1) revealed a significant condition (global vs. local) × diagnosis interaction (Figure 4). Specifically, in patients, median RT to global targets (mean [SD] = .694 [.127] sec) was delayed relative to local targets (.646 [.124] sec) [F(1,48) = 17.10, p < .001]; in control subjects, median RT was comparable across the two conditions (global: .644 [.115] sec; local: .640 [.105] sec) [F(1,48) = .10, p = .75]. This delayed global RT in patients also contributed to a

Discussion

The results of primary interest in this study reflect patient–control differences and the modulation of these group differences by stimulus condition. These results can be summarized as follows: 1) patients had slower and less accurate responses to global stimuli, with an accuracy impairment especially evident among female patients; 2) patients had decreased N150 amplitudes, with reverse hemispheric asymmetry (left > right) in response to local stimuli; and 3) patients had earlier P300

References (56)

  • D. Navon

    Forest before treesThe precedence of global features in visual processing

    Cognit Psychol

    (1977)
  • A.M. Proverbio et al.

    Electrophysiological evidence of a perceptual precedence of global vs. local visual information

    Cogn Brain Res

    (1998)
  • F. Roux et al.

    Does aging affect the allocation of visual attention in global and local information processing?

    Brain Cogn

    (2001)
  • I.E. Sommer et al.

    Language lateralization in female patients with schizophreniaAn fMRI study

    Schizophr Res

    (2003)
  • M.H. Van Kleeck

    Hemispheric differences in global versus local processing of hierarchical visual stimuli by normal subjects

    Neuropsychologia

    (1989)
  • S. Vanni et al.

    Sequence of pattern onset responses in the human visual areasan fMRI constrained VEP source analysis

    Neuroimage

    (2004)
  • A. Angelucci et al.

    Circuits for local and global sign integration in primary visual cortex

    J Neurosci

    (2002)
  • M.R. Basso et al.

    Global-local visual biases correspond with visual-spatial orientation

    J Clin Exp Neuropsychol

    (2004)
  • E. Bleuler

    Dementia Praecox, oder Gruppe der Schizophrenien

    (1911)
  • N.L. Bryant et al.

    Gender differences in temporal lobe structures of patients with schizophreniaA volumetric MRI study

    Am J Psychiatry

    (1999)
  • P.D. Butler et al.

    Dysfunction of early-stage visual processing in schizophrenia

    Am J Psychiatry

    (2001)
  • D.C. Delis et al.

    Visuospatial dysfunction following unilateral brain damageDissociations in hierarchical hemispatial analysis

    J Clin Exp Neuropsychol

    (1988)
  • F. Di Russo et al.

    Cortical sources of the early components of the visual evoked potential

    Hum Brain Mapp

    (2001)
  • E. Donchin

    Presidential address, 1980. Surprise!  Surprise

    Psychophysiology

    (1981)
  • G.M. Doniger et al.

    Impaired visual object recognition and dorsal/ventral stream interaction in schizophrenia

    Arch Gen Psychiatry

    (2002)
  • T.J. Ferman et al.

    Global-local processing in schizophreniaHemispheric asymmetry and symptom-specific interference

    J Int Neuropsychol Soc

    (1999)
  • G.R. Fink et al.

    Where in the brain does visual attention select the forest and the trees?

    Nature

    (1996)
  • M.B. First et al.

    Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders–Nonpatient Edition (SCID –NP, Version 2.0)

    (1995)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text