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Brief Monocular Deprivation As An Assay Of Short-Term Visual Sensory Plasticity In Schizophrenia - "The Binocular Effect", John J. Foxe, Sheralyn Yeap, Victoria M. Leavitt

Publications and Research

Background: Visual sensory processing deficits are consistently observed in schizophrenia, with clear amplitude reduction of the visual evoked potential (VEP) during the initial 50-150 of processing. Similar deficits are seen in unaffected first-degree relatives and drug-naïve first-episode patients, pointing to these deficits as potential endophenotypic markers. Schizophrenia is also associated with deficits in neural plasticity, implicating dysfunction of both glutamatergic and GABAergic systems. Here, we sought to understand the intersection of these two domains, asking whether short-term plasticity during early visual processing is specifically affected in schizophrenia.

Methods: Brief periods of monocular deprivation (MD) induce relatively rapid changes …