Neural correlates of behavioral control and impulsivity in first-episode schizophrenia: A MEG-Based beta oscillation analysis

Background

Impaired behavioral control and heightened impulsivity are core neurocogntive deficits in schizophrenia. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Studying individuals at inherited risk for schizophrenia may reveal potential endophenotypes, aiding early biomarker identification. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides high temporal to investigate inhibitory control deficits at the neurophysiological level. This study hypothesized that patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and their first-degree relatives (FDR) would exhibit altered beta-band oscillatory activity and discrupted functional connectivity during behavioral control tasks, reflecting distinct neural signatures of impaired inhibitory control impairment and impulsivity.

Methods

Our study comprised 20 patients with FES, 20 FDR, and 22 matched healthy controls (HCs) to perform a Go/NoGo task during MEG scanning. Beta-band oscillatory activity and functional connectivity (FC) were analyzed in key behavioral control regions, particularly the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and left motor cortex (lM1). A machine learning classifier was applied to assess the discriminative power of these neurophysiological features.

Results

Compared to HCs, FES participants exhibited significant reduced beta power in both pre-SMA and lM1 (P < 0.005), along with increased beta-band connectivity between these regions during the late-stage of inhibition (P = 0.013). FDR showed intermediate beta power reductions and FC increases, suggesting a potential inherited liability. BIS-11 impulsivity scores were significantly correlated with beta power in both regions (P < 0.01). A classification model integrating neural and behavioral features achieved an original accuracy of 88.7 % and a cross-validated accuracy of 72.6 %, with the highest classification performance observed in the FES group (95 %).

Conclusions

These findings highlight beta-band oscillations and pre-SMA-lM1 connectivity as potential neurophysiological markers of behavioral control deficits in schizophrenia. These results provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying impulsivity in schizophrenia and highlight the potential utility of beta-band dynamics as biomarkers for early detection and intervention.