Auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia: Evidence from a novel task

IF 3.6 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of psychiatric research Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-07 DOI:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2026.01.014

Yingding Ma , Zetao Huang , Jiuju Wang , Yanping Song , Xiangqun Wang , Chaojun Hao , Jiaxin Zhang , Daijun Ke , Ziyu Ye , Dafang Ouyang , Wentian Dong

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Deficits in basic auditory processing (BAP) are features of schizophrenia (SCZ), contributing to cognitive and psychosocial dysfunction. While pitch discrimination tasks are widely used to assess BAP, conventional tasks conflate auditory processing deficits with impairments in echoic memory. We designed a novel Simultaneous Binaural Pitch Discrimination (SBPD) task to focus more on BAP by eliminating temporal separation between stimuli.

Methods

We administered the SBPD task to 42 patients with SCZ and 42 demographically matched healthy controls (HC). Pure tone pairs were presented simultaneously binaurally by dichotic headphones, requiring participants to judge pitch identity/differences without echoic memory involvement. Accuracy and reaction time were examined and analyzed. Relationships between clinical variables (age at diagnosis, illness duration and antipsychotic dosage) and task performance were assessed.

Results

Patients exhibited significantly lower accuracy than controls (57.87 % vs. 74.33 %, t = −3.688, p < 0.001; Cohen's d = −0.62) and longer reaction times (2111.61 ± 447.18 ms vs. 1906.04 ± 413.88 ms, t = 2.414, P = 0.020, d = 0.40).

Conclusions

We employed a newly designed task and found basic auditory processing deficits in patients compared to healthy individuals. Future studies should investigate the stability and neural mechanisms of binaural integration deficits, particularly brainstem dysfunction implicated in abnormal auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) in SCZ.

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精神分裂症的听觉加工缺陷：来自一项新任务的证据

基础听觉加工（BAP）缺陷是精神分裂症（SCZ）的特征，有助于认知和社会心理功能障碍。虽然音高辨别任务被广泛用于评估BAP，但传统的任务将听觉加工缺陷与回声记忆障碍混为一谈。我们设计了一个新的同步双耳音高辨别（SBPD）任务，通过消除刺激物之间的时间分离来更多地关注BAP。方法对42例SCZ患者和42例人口统计学匹配的健康对照（HC）进行SBPD任务。纯音对通过双耳耳机同时呈现，要求参与者在不涉及回声记忆的情况下判断音高的同一性/差异性。对准确度和反应时间进行了检验和分析。评估临床变量（诊断年龄、病程和抗精神病药物剂量）与任务表现之间的关系。结果受试者的反应正确率显著低于对照组（57.87% vs. 74.33%, t = - 3.688, p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = - 0.62），反应时间显著长于对照组（2111.61±447.18 ms vs. 1906.04±413.88 ms, t = 2.414, p = 0.020, d = 0.40）。结论：我们采用了一个新设计的任务，发现与健康个体相比，患者存在基本的听觉加工缺陷。未来的研究应探讨双耳整合缺陷的稳定性和神经机制，特别是与SCZ异常听觉脑干反应（ABRs）相关的脑干功能障碍。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of psychiatric research 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

2.10%

发文量

622

审稿时长

130 days

期刊介绍： Founded in 1961 to report on the latest work in psychiatry and cognate disciplines, the Journal of Psychiatric Research is dedicated to innovative and timely studies of four important areas of research: (1) clinical studies of all disciplines relating to psychiatric illness, as well as normal human behaviour, including biochemical, physiological, genetic, environmental, social, psychological and epidemiological factors; (2) basic studies pertaining to psychiatry in such fields as neuropsychopharmacology, neuroendocrinology, electrophysiology, genetics, experimental psychology and epidemiology; (3) the growing application of clinical laboratory techniques in psychiatry, including imagery and spectroscopy of the brain, molecular biology and computer sciences;