Abnormalities in the evoked frontal oscillatory activity of first-episode psychosis: A TMS/EEG study

Abstract

TMS with simultaneous EEG allows assessing the intrinsic oscillatory activity of cortical neurons. We recently showed reduced frontal cortical oscillations in chronic schizophrenia (SCZ). Here we investigated the oscillatory activity of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients after TMS of a frontal area, the motor cortex. Compared to healthy controls, FEP patients had significantly reduced beta/low gamma oscillations, which were associated to worse clinical symptoms. Altogether, this study demonstrates that TMS/EEG recordings: 1) are feasible in acute, early-course psychotic patients; and 2) reveal intrinsic oscillatory deficits at illness onset, which may help design more effective, early interventions in SCZ.

Keywords: Cortical oscillations; EEG; First-episode psychosis; TMS.