| Abstract: | The study aimed to investigate the early coding of visually presented words and pseudowords using event-related potentials (ERP). We conducted comparative analysis of the characteristics of P100 and N170 in healthy controls and in patients with the first episode of schizophrenia during passive perception of verbal stimuli as well as under conditions of relevant words and pseudowords. The latency of early ERP components P100 and N170 appeared to be shorter in comparison with healthy subjects in the temporal, parietal and occipital areas. The latency of P100 in patients was significantly shorter in the temporal, parietal and occipital areas, whereas the latency of N170 was shorter in the parietal and occipital areas than in controls. The latency of N170 in healthy subjects was significantly longer to words than to pseudowords and in patients - vice versa. The latencies of N170 in all TPO areas were equal in healthy subjects during word processing, and this equality was upset during non-word processing. In patients with schizophrenia the equality was upset, but, opposite to healthy patients, the upset of equality was more expressed during words processing. Thus, the early stage of verbal information processing in schizophrenic patients is insufficient in time. The time deficit of the automatic processes may lead to defective processing of overall information. |
