Oculomotricity and Neurological Soft Signs: Can we refine the endophenotype? A study in subjects belonging to the spectrum of schizophrenia

Caldani, Simona; Amado, Isabelle; Bendjemaa, Narjes; Vialatte, François; Mam-Lam-Fook, Célia; Gaillard, R.; Krebs, Marie‐Odile; Bucci, Maria Pia

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.06.013

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…These sensorimotor impairments seem to be central features in ASD [Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015] and in SCZ [Walther & Mittal, 2016;Walther & Strik, 2012], and they potentially reflect a common underlying neurodevelopmental burden. Studying sensorimotor impairments in both disorders remains relevant for several reasons: these impairments (i) seem to be prevalent (up to 80% in autism [Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015] and schizophrenia [Walther & Strik, 2012]); (ii) they have a direct impact on daily functioning/quality of life [Bowie, Reichenberg, Patterson, Heaton, & Harvey, 2006;Travers et al, 2017]; (iii) they are of potential interest for (early) screening, since they may detect objective, prodromal signs [Caldani et al, 2017;Millan et al, 2016;Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015;Térémetz et al, 2017]; and (iv) they may promote better understanding of the underlying neuropathological mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common vs. Distinct Visuomotor Control Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia

et al. 2020

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) are neurodevelopmental disorders with partly overlapping clinical phenotypes including sensorimotor impairments. However, direct comparative studies on sensorimotor control across these two disorders are lacking. We set out to compare visuomotor upper limb impairment, quantitatively, in ASD and SCZ. Patients with ASD (N = 24) were compared to previously published data from healthy control participants (N = 24) and patients with SCZ (N = 24). All participants performed a visuomotor grip force‐tracking task in single and dual‐task conditions. The dual‐task (high cognitive load) presented either visual distractors or required mental addition during grip force‐tracking. Motor inhibition was measured by duration of force release and from principal component analysis (PCA) of the participant's force‐trajectory. Common impairments in patients with ASD and SCZ included increased force‐tracking error in single‐task condition compared to controls, a further increase in error in dual‐task conditions, and prolonged duration of force release. These three sensorimotor impairments were found in both patient groups. In contrast, distinct impairments in patients with ASD included greater error under high cognitive load and delayed onset of force release compared to SCZ. The PCA inhibition component was higher in ASD than SCZ and controls, correlated to duration of force release, and explained group differences in tracking error. In conclusion, sensorimotor impairments related to motor inhibition are common to ASD and SCZ, but more severe in ASD, consistent with enhanced neurodevelopmental load in ASD. Furthermore, impaired motor anticipation may represent a further specific impairment in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 885‐896. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay summary Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) are neurodevelopmental disorders with partly overlapping and partly distinct clinical symptoms. Sensorimotor impairments rank among these symptoms, but it is less clear whether they are shared or distinct. In this study, we showed using a grip force task that sensorimotor impairments related to motor inhibition are common to ASD and SCZ, but more severe in ASD. Impaired motor anticipation may represent a further specific impairment in ASD.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common vs. Distinct Visuomotor Control Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia

et al. 2020

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“…They have, in part, been clinically operationalized as neurological soft signs, encompassing a set of discrete motor and sensorimotor abnormalities (Krebs et al , 2000). Sensorimotor impairments and neurological soft signs may, from the prodromal stage, predict the course of schizophrenia (Millan et al , 2016; Mittal, 2016; Walther et al , 2016; Caldani et al , 2017 a ; Térémetz et al , 2017). Impaired sensorimotor integration has been shown in a variety of tasks, including gait and posture (Kent et al , 2012; Bernard et al , 2014), fine motor function (Walther and Mittal, 2016) or gaze control (Calkins et al , 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired attentional modulation of sensorimotor control and cortical excitability in schizophrenia

Carment

Dupin

Guedj

et al. 2019

Brain

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Impairments in attentional, working memory and sensorimotor processing have been consistently reported in schizophrenia. However, the interaction between cognitive and sensorimotor impairments and the underlying neural mechanisms remains largely uncharted. We hypothesized that altered attentional processing in patients with schizophrenia, probed through saccadic inhibition, would partly explain impaired sensorimotor control and would be reflected as altered task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition. Twenty-five stabilized patients with schizophrenia, 17 unaffected siblings and 25 healthy control subjects were recruited. Subjects performed visuomotor grip force-tracking alone (single-task condition) and with increased cognitive load (dual-task condition). In the dual-task condition, two types of trials were randomly presented: trials with visual distractors (requiring inhibition of saccades) or trials with addition of numbers (requiring saccades and addition). Both dual-task trial types required divided visual attention to the force-tracking target and to the distractor or number. Gaze was measured during force-tracking tasks, and task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition were assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. In the single-task, patients with schizophrenia showed increased force-tracking error. In dual-task distraction trials, force-tracking error increased further in patients, but not in the other two groups. Patients inhibited fewer saccades to distractors, and the capacity to inhibit saccades explained group differences in force-tracking performance. Cortical excitability at rest was not different between groups and increased for all groups during single-task force-tracking, although, to a greater extent in patients (80%) compared to controls (40%). Compared to single-task force-tracking, the dual-task increased cortical excitability in control subjects, whereas patients showed decreased excitability. Again, the group differences in cortical excitability were no longer significant when failure to inhibit saccades was included as a covariate. Cortical inhibition was reduced in patients in all conditions, and only healthy controls increased inhibition in the dual-task. Siblings had similar force-tracking and gaze performance as controls but showed altered task-related modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition in dual-task conditions. In patients, neuropsychological scores of attention correlated with visuomotor performance and with task-dependant modulation of cortical excitability. Disorganization symptoms were greatest in patients with weakest task-dependent modulation of cortical excitability. This study provides insights into neurobiological mechanisms of impaired sensorimotor control in schizophrenia showing that deficient divided visual attention contributes to impaired visuomotor performance and is reflected in impaired modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition. In siblings, altered modulation of cortical excitability and inhibition is consistent with a genetic risk for cortical abnormality.

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“…4,5 In the last several decades, there has been renewed focus on motor symptoms as core features of the disorder. 6 For example, motor symptoms have been consistently identified in individuals at high risk for schizophrenia, including increased rates of neurological soft signs (NSS), 7,8 abnormal involuntary movements, 9 and significant delays in motor development. 10 Moreover, early evidence indicates that abnormal involuntary movements are predictive of psychosis risk in children and adolescents in the general population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postural Sway Abnormalities in Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Apthorp

Bolbecker

Bartolomeo

et al. 2018

Schizophrenia Bulletin

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Motor abnormalities are among the most robust findings in schizophrenia, and increasing evidence suggests they are a core feature of the disorder. Postural sway during balance tasks is a highly sensitive probe of sensorimotor systems including the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and motor cortices. Postural sway deficits are present in schizophrenia as well as groups at high risk for psychosis, suggesting altered postural control may be sensitive to the pathophysiological processes associated with risk and expression of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. This study examined postural sway performance in schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). Individuals with SPD have attenuated psychotic symptoms and share genetic risk with schizophrenia but are usually free from antipsychotic medication and other illness confounds, making SPD useful for assessing candidate biomarkers. We measured postural sway using force plates in 27 individuals with SPD, 27 carefully matched controls, and 27 matched patients with schizophrenia. It was predicted that postural sway in the SPD group would fall intermediate to schizophrenia and controls. In all conditions (eyes open and closed, with feet together or apart), the SPD group swayed significantly more than the controls, as measured by path length and sway area. Moreover, the magnitude of the sway deficit was comparable in the SPD and schizophrenia groups. These findings suggest that postural sway measures may represent a sensorimotor biomarker of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

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Oculomotricity and Neurological Soft Signs: Can we refine the endophenotype? A study in subjects belonging to the spectrum of schizophrenia

Cited by 17 publications

References 83 publications

Common vs. Distinct Visuomotor Control Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia

Common vs. Distinct Visuomotor Control Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia

Impaired attentional modulation of sensorimotor control and cortical excitability in schizophrenia

Postural Sway Abnormalities in Schizotypal Personality Disorder

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