Intact figure-ground segmentation in schizophrenia

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 129; no. 1; pp. 55 - 63
• Main Authors: Herzog, Michael H., Kopmann, Sabine, Brand, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.11.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Backward masking; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Early visual processing; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological Tests; Perceptual Disorders - diagnosis; Perceptual Disorders - etiology; Perceptual Masking; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Shine-through effect; State and trait marker; Time Perception; Visual Perception - physiology; Psychopathology; Shine-through effect; Backward masking; Early visual processing; State and trait marker; Human; Figure ground perception; Clinical form; Schizophrenia; Cognition; Experimental study; Psychosis; Symptomatology; Vision; Information processing; Perception; Severity score; Masking; Timing; Stimulus discrimination; Neuropsychologia; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2004.06.008

As revealed by backward masking studies, schizophrenic patients show strong impairments of early visual processing. However, the underlying temporal mechanisms are not yet well understood. To shed light on the exact timing of these deficits, we employed a paradigm in which two masks follow each other. We investigated 16 medicated schizophrenic patients and a matched group of 14 controls with a new backward masking technique, shine-through. In accordance with other masking studies, schizophrenic patients require a dramatically longer processing time to reach a predefined performance level compared with healthy subjects. However, patients are surprisingly sensitive to subtle differences in the timing of the two masks, revealing good temporal resolution. This good temporal resolution indicates intact and fast perceptual grouping and figure-ground segmentation in spite of high susceptibility to masking procedures in schizophrenia.