Analysis of EEG Structural Synchrony in Adolescents with Schizophrenic Disorders

A total of 39 healthy adolescents and 45 adolescents with schizophrenic disorders (mean age 12.3 years) were examined to study the EEG structural synchrony as reflecting temporal synchronization of the operational activity of neuronal networks. A significant decrease in the EEG structural synchrony was observed in the adolescents with schizophrenic disorders as compared to the healthy adolescents. The decrease was detected predominantly in the interhemispheric pairs of EEG derivations, as well as in the pairs related to the frontal, temporal (predominantly on the left), and right parietocentral regions. The findings provide evidence in favor of Friston’s hypothesis of disintegration of cortical electrical activity in schizophrenia and extend the hypothesis in that it is the operational synchrony of cortical activity that might suffer first in schizophrenia.

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