Neurophysiological Evidence of Error-monitoring Deficits in Patients with Schizophrenia

The present study was designed to investigate the time-course of neural activity underlying the disruption of response monitoring in patients with schizophrenia. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 12 patients with schizophrenia and from 12 age-matched controls while they performed a computerized version of the Stroop color-naming task. In control participants, but not in patients with schizophrenia, intrusion errors elicited an error-related negativity (ERN) that peaked at approximately 40 ms after the response and was maximum over the central region of the scalp. Brain electrical source analysis revealed an anterior cingulate generator for the ERN. Patients also showed reduced error-related slowing of response time following intrusion errors. These findings provide neuro-physiological evidence indicating that deficits in error monitoring in schizophrenia arise from a disruption of error-detection processes, possibly attributable to anterior cingulate dysfunction.