Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T03:36:22.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Visual masking by object substitution in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2010

M. F. Green ,
J. K. Wynn ,
B. Breitmeyer ,
K. I. Mathis  and
K. H. Nuechterlein
M. F. Green*
Affiliation:
VA Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
J. K. Wynn
Affiliation:
VA Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
B. Breitmeyer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
K. I. Mathis
Affiliation:
VA Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
K. H. Nuechterlein
Affiliation:
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: M. F. Green, Ph.D., 300 Medical Plaza, Rm 2263, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095–6968, USA. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Schizophrenia patients demonstrate impairment on visual backward masking, a measure of early visual processing. Most visual masking paradigms involve two distinct processes, an early fast-acting component associated with object formation and a later component that acts through object substitution. So far, masking paradigms used in schizophrenia research have been unable to separate these two processes.

Method

We administered three visual processing paradigms (location masking with forward and backward masking, four-dot backward masking and a cuing task) to 136 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 79 healthy controls. A psychophysical procedure was used to match subjects on identification of an unmasked target prior to location masking. Location masking interrupts object formation, four-dot masking task works through masking by object substitution and the cuing task measures iconic decay.

Results

Patients showed impairment on location masking after being matched for input threshold, similar to previous reports. After correcting for age, patients showed lower performance on four-dot masking than controls, but the groups did not differ on the cuing task.

Conclusions

Patients with schizophrenia showed lower performance when masking was specific to object substitution. The difference in object substitution masking was not due to a difference in rate of iconic decay, which was comparable in the two groups. These results suggest that, despite normal iconic decay rates, individuals with schizophrenia show impairment in a paradigm of masking by object substitution that did not also involve disruption of object formation.

Keywords

Early perceptionobject substitutionschizophreniavisual masking
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 7 , July 2011 , pp. 1489 - 1496
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, NC (1984). The Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). The University of Iowa: Iowa City, IA.Google Scholar
Bar, M, Tootell, RB, Schacter, DL, Greve, DN, Fischl, B, Mendola, JD, Rosen, BR, Dale, AM (2001). Cortical mechanisms specific to explicit visual object recognition. Neuron 29, 529–535.Google Scholar
Bedwell, JS, Brown, JM, Miller, S (2003). The magnocellular visual system and schizophrenia: what can the color red tell us? Schizophrenia Research 63, 273–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breitmeyer, BG (1984). Visual Masking: An Integrative Approach. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Breitmeyer, BG, Ogmen, H (2000). Recent models and findings in visual backward masking: a comparison, review, and update. Perception and Psychophysics 62, 1572–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadenhead, KS, Serper, Y, Braff, DL (1998). Transient versus sustained visual channels in the VBM deficits of schizophrenia patients. Biological Psychiatry 43, 132–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, TA, Rauschenberger, R, Verstraten, FA (2007). No representation without awareness in the lateral occipital cortex. Psychological Science 18, 298–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chakravarthi, R, Cavanagh, P (2009). Recovery of a crowded object by masking the flankers: determining the locus of feature integration. Journal of Vision 9, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, Z, Treisman, A (2009). Implicit perception and level of processing in object-substitution masking. Psychological Science 20, 560–567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Di Lollo, V, Enns, JT, Rensink, RA (2000). Competition for consciousness among visual events: the psychophysics of reentrant visual processes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 129, 481–507.Google Scholar
Dux, PE, Visser, TAW, Goodhew, SC, Lipp, OV (2010). Delayed reentrant processing impairs visual awareness: an object-substitution-masking study. Psychological Science 21, 1242–1247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enns, JT (2004). Object substitution and its relation to other forms of visual masking. Vision Research 44, 1321–1331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enns, JT, Di Lollo, V (2000). What's new in visual masking? Trends in Cognitive Science 4, 345–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, MB, Gibbon, M, Spitzer, RL, Williams, JBW, Benjamin, L (1996). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders. Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York, NY.Google Scholar
First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBW (1997). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders – Patient Edition. Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York, NY.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Glahn, D, Engel, SA, Nuechterlein, KH, Sabb, F, Strojwas, M, Cohen, MS (2005). Regional brain activity associated with visual backward masking. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 17, 13–23.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Lee, J, Cohen, MS, Engel, SA, Korb, AS, Nuechterlein, KH, Wynn, JK, Glahn, DC (2009). Functional neuroanatomy of visual masking deficits in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 1295–1303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, MF, Mintz, J, Salveson, D, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, BG, Light, GA, Braff, DL (2003 a). Visual masking as a probe for abnormal gamma range activity in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 53, 1113–1119.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, B (1997). Backward masking performance in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients: evidence for a vulnerability indicator. Archives of General Psychiatry 54, 465–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, B (2002). Development of a computerized assessment for visual masking. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 11, 83–89.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, B, Mintz, J (1999). Backward masking in unmedicated schizophrenic patients in psychotic remission: possible reflections of aberrant cortical oscillations. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 1367–1373.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, B, Mintz, J (2006). Forward and backward visual masking in unaffected siblings of schizophrenic patients. Biological Psychiatry 59, 446–451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Breitmeyer, B, Tsuang, J, Mintz, J (2003 b). Forward and backward visual masking in schizophrenia: influence of age. Psychological Medicine 33, 887–895.Google Scholar
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Mintz, J (1994 a). Backward masking in schizophrenia and mania: specifying a mechanism. Archives of General Psychiatry 51, 939–944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, MF, Nuechterlein, KH, Mintz, J (1994 b). Backward masking in schizophrenia and mania: specifying the visual channels. Archives of General Psychiatry 51, 945–951.Google Scholar
Grill-Spector, K, Kushnir, T, Hendler, T, Malach, R (2000). The dynamics of object-selective activation correlate with recognition performance in humans. Nature Neuroscience 3, 837–843.Google Scholar
Hahn, B, Kappenman, ES, Robinson, BM, Fuller, RL, Luck, SJ, Gold, JM (2010). Iconic decay in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin. Published online: 6 January 2010. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp164.Google Scholar
Javitt, DC (2009). When doors of perception close: bottom-up models of disrupted cognition in schizophrenia. Annual Review of Clinical Psychololgy 5, 249–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keri, S, Kelemen, O, Benedek, G, Janka, Z (2001). Different trait markers for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a neurocognitive approach. Psychological Medicine 31, 915–922.Google Scholar
Knight, R, Sherer, M, Shapiro, J (1977). Iconic imagery in overinclusive and non-overinclusive schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psycholology 86, 242–255.Google Scholar
Leitman, DI, Foxe, JJ, Butler, PD, Saperstein, A, Revheim, N, Javitt, DC (2005). Sensory contributions to impaired prosodic processing in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 58, 56–61.Google Scholar
Leitman, DI, Sehatpour, P, Higgins, BA, Foxe, JJ, Silipo, G, Javitt, DC (2010). Sensory deficits and distributed hierarchical dysfunction in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 167, 818–827.Google Scholar
Lieb, K, Denz, E, Hess, R, Schuttler, R, Kornhuber, HH, Schreiber, H (1996). Preattentive information processing as measured by backward masking and texton detection tasks in adolescents at high genetic risk for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 21, 171–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, S, Saccuzzo, D, Braff, D (1979). Information processing deficits in remitted schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 88, 446–449.Google Scholar
Rassovsky, Y, Horan, WP, Lee, J, Sergi, MJ, Green, MF (2010). Pathways between early visual processing and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine 19, 1–11.Google Scholar
Reiss, JE, Hoffman, JE (2006). Object substitution masking interferes with semantic processing: evidence from event-related potentials. Psychological Science 17, 1015–1020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ro, T, Breitmeyer, B, Burton, P, Singhal, NS, Lane, D (2003). Feedback contributions to visual awareness in human occipital cortex. Current Biology 13, 1038–1041.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rund, BR (1993). Backward-masking performance in chronic and nonchronic schizophrenics, affectively disturbed patients, and normal control subjects. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102, 74–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saccuzzo, DP, Braff, DL (1981). Early information processing deficit in schizophrenia: new findings using schizophrenic subgroups and manic control subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry 38, 175–179.Google Scholar
Saccuzzo, DP, Braff, DL (1986). Information-processing abnormalities. Schizophrenia Bulletin 12, 447–459.Google Scholar
Saccuzzo, DP, Schubert, DL (1981). Backward masking as a measure of slow processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 90, 305–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schechter, I, Butler, PD, Silipo, GVZ, Javitt, DC (2003). Magnocellular and parvocellular contributions to backward masking dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 64, 91–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schuck, JR, Lee, RG (1989). Backward masking, information processing, and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 15, 491–500.Google Scholar
Sergi, MJ, Rassovsky, Y, Nuechterlein, KH, Green, MF (2006). Social perception as a mediator of the influence of early visual processing on functional status in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 448–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ventura, J, Green, MF, Shaner, A, Liberman, RP (1993 a). Training and quality assurance with the brief psychiatric rating scale: ‘The Drift Busters’. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 3, 221–224.Google Scholar
Ventura, J, Liberman, RP, Green, MF, Shaner, A (1998). Training and quality assurance with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Psychiatry Research 79, 163–173.Google Scholar
Ventura, J, Lukoff, D, Nuechterlein, KH, Liberman, RP, Green, MF, Shaner, A (1993 b). Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) expanded version: scales, anchor points, and administration manual. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 3, 227–243.Google Scholar
Wynn, JK, Light, GA, Breitmeyer, B, Nuechterlein, KH, Green, MF (2005). Event-related gamma activity in schizophrenia patients during a visual backward masking task. American Journal of Psychiatry 162, 2330–2336.Google Scholar