Intraindividual Variability of Event-Related Potentials in Psychosis: A Registered Report
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Neurophysiological tools have yielded valuable insights into the pathophysiology and treatment of psychosis. However, studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) have primarily focused on mean scores and neglected the within-person variability of ERP scores. The neglect of within-person variability of ERPs in the search for biomarkers might have resulted in crucial differences related to psychosis being missed. In this registered report, we aimed to determine whether distinct patterns of intraindividual variability in ERP biomarkers would be observed in people with a lifetime psychosis diagnosis. Publicly available data posted to the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive for 1R01MH110434-01 was obtained for 162 patients with a lifetime history of psychosis and 178 never-psychotic (NP) participants. Participants completed tasks that measured the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN), P300, error-related negativity, and reward positivity. Multilevel location-scale models were used to determine whether patients showed greater intraindividual variability of ERP scores than NP participants. Contrary to predictions, the groups did not differ in within-person variability of MMN frequency, P300, or error-related negativity; patients showed less variability in MMN duration than NP participants. Exploratory analyses of a subset of patients with schizophrenia showed greater variability of MMN in this group than in the NP group. Greater severity of thought disorder and activation symptoms were associated with higher intraindividual MMN variability. Distinct patterns of intraindividual variability in the measured ERPs were not observed for the broad group of people with lifetime psychotic disorders. Exploratory analyses suggest that intraindividual differences in ERPs are more relevant to schizophrenia and certain symptom dimensions than to psychotic disorders broadly, but research is needed to confirm these exploratory findings. Brain responses are typically examined to understand features of psychotic disorders. Traditionally, such research has focused on the average response and has overlooked how these responses vary within an individual. In this study, we examined variability in brain responses using data from 162 people with psychosis and 178 people without psychosis to identify unique patterns of variability related to group. Contrary to expectations, variability in most brain responses was similar across groups, although some variations in response to auditory stimuli were observed in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that variability in brain responses to auditory information could be specific to subtypes of psychosis, such as schizophrenia.
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
OpenAlex ID: W4402748060