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Background: Social Support has been found to contribute to lower mental illness burden, higher treatment adherence, enhanced social functioning, and better quality of life. Individuals with schizophrenia report lower social support compared to non-clinical populations, yet the factors contributing to this discrepancy are not fully clear. Specifically, the person-related variables that may enhance or hinder SS in people with schizophrenia are unknown. Evidence from affective neuroscience research has implicated emotion awareness and regulation as key predictors of social functioning, a correlate of social support. However, their potential impact on social support in schizophrenia has not been investigated., Methods: We examined emotion awareness, emotion regulation and social support in 90 individuals with schizophrenia and 26 healthy controls., Results: The schizophrenia group reported significantly poorer emotion awareness, more frequent use of suppression to regulate emotions, as well as lower social support. Within the schizophrenia group, results from mediation analyses pointed to significant indirect effects of specific emotion regulation strategies on social support through emotion awareness, with use of suppression predicting lower social support via decreased emotion awareness, and conversely, use of cognitive reappraisal predicting greater social support via increased emotion awareness. Notably, emotion awareness was more strongly associated with social support from friends than from family members., Conclusions: The results highlight poor emotion awareness as a key variable critical to enhancing social support in people schizophrenia. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying the links between emotion awareness, emotion regulation, and SS, along with the therapeutic implications of the findings., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors report they have no financial and/or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias this work., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Schizophrenia (SZ) is associated with visual processing impairments, which are related to higher-level functional impairments. This study investigated the impact of a novel visual remediation intervention (VisR) targeting low- and mid-level visual processing impairments in SZ. We hypothesized that VisR would lead to greater improvements in contrast processing when compared to an active control condition and explored potential treatment-related changes in symptom severity. SZ participants (N = 47) were randomized into one of four groups: an active control group (cognitive training; AC); Contrast Sensitivity Training + AC (CST + AC); Contour Integration Training + AC (CIT + AC); and CST + CIT. Participants completed 20-40 training sessions. Clinical symptom severity was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and contrast processing was assessed using steady-state visual evoked potentials to increasing levels of contrast of isolated-check pattern stimuli. A significant Group × Timepoint × Contrast interaction indicated superiority of CST + CIT over AC for improving contrast processing. Furthermore, a large, significant Group × Timepoint interaction indicated that CST + CIT was associated with a greater reduction in positive symptoms compared to AC. In addition, lower severity of positive symptoms at baseline was associated with a greater improvement in contrast processing over the course of treatment. This initial evaluation of VisR demonstrated that it is well tolerated and may produce greater improvements in contrast processing and positive symptoms compared to an intervention targeting only high-level cognitive functions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest I have nothing to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Frequency-domain measures were applied to characterize neural deficits in individuals with schizophrenia using transient visual evoked potentials (tVEP). These measures were compared with conventional time-domain measures to elucidate underlying neurophysiological mechanisms and examine the value of frequency analysis., Methods: Four frequency bands of activity identified in previous work were explored with respect to magnitude (spectral power), timing (phase), a combined measure, magnitude-squared coherence (MSC), and compared to amplitudes and times of prominent deflections in the response., Results: Band 2 power/MSC (14-28 Hz) captured the major deflections in the waveform and its power predicted N75-P100 amplitude for patients and controls. Band 3 power/MSC (30-40 Hz) correlated highly with the earliest deflection (P60-N75), reflecting input to primary visual cortex (V1) and produced the largest magnitude effect. Phase of the 24th harmonic component predicted P100 peak time for patients and controls and yielded the largest group difference. Cluster analyses including time- and frequency-domain measures identified subgroups of patients with differential neurophysiological effects. A small but significant difference in visual acuity was found between groups that appears to be neurally based: Acuity (range 0.63-1.6) was not correlated with any tVEP measures in controls nor with input timing to V1 (P60 peak time) in patients, but was correlated with later tVEP measures in patients. All but two of the patients were on antipsychotic medication: Medication level (chlorpromazine equivalents) was correlated negatively with tVEP time measures and positively with certain magnitude measures yielding responses similar to controls at high levels., Conclusions: Overall, frequency-domain measures were shown to be objective and recommended as an alternative to conventional, subjective time-domain measures for analyzing tVEPs and in distinguishing between groups (patients vs. controls and patient subgroups). The findings implicated a loss of excitatory input to V1 in schizophrenia. Acuity as measured in the current study reflected disease status, and medication level was associated with improved tVEP responses. These novel tVEP techniques may be useful in revealing neurophysiological processes affected in schizophrenia and as a clinical tool., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in visual contrast processing, though less is known about how these deficits impact neurocognition and functional outcomes. This study investigated effects of contrast sensitivity (CS) on cognition and capacity for independent living in schizophrenia., Methods: Participants were 58 patients with schizophrenia (n = 49) and schizoaffective disorder (n = 9). Patients completed a psychophysical paradigm to obtain CS with stimuli consisting of grating patterns of low (0.5 and 1 cycles/degree) and high spatial frequencies (4, 7, 21 cycles/degree). Patients completed the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales, Third Edition to assess cognition, and the problem-solving factor of the Independent Living Scales to assess functional capacity. We computed bivariate correlation coefficients for all pairs of variables and tested mediation models with CS to low (CS-LSF) and high spatial frequencies (CS-HSF) as predictors, cognitive measures as mediators, and capacity for independent living as an outcome., Results: Cognition mediated the relationship between CS and independent living with CS-LSF a stronger predictor than CS-HSF. Mediation effects were strongest for perceptual organization and memory-related domains. In an expanded moderated mediation model, CS-HSF was found to be a significant predictor of independent living through perceptual organization as a mediator and CS-LSF as a moderator of this relationship., Conclusion: CS relates to functional capacity in schizophrenia through neurocognition. These relationships may inform novel visual remediation interventions., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Individuals with schizophrenia have problems with visual contrast processing. The current study investigated contrast sensitivity (CS) in schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder to elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms affected by this disorder and to identify critical testing conditions that distinguish individuals with the disorder from healthy individuals. Principal component analysis was applied to the data (N = 143) to separate responses from distinct visual pathways. Participants were 68 patients and 75 age-similar controls. CS was obtained using a forced-choice psychophysical paradigm with grating patterns of low to high spatial frequency presented at short and long durations. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine differences in log CS with respect to group, duration, and stimulus condition. Lower CSs were found in patients compared to controls over all stimulus conditions with the magnitude of deficits dependent on both spatial frequency and stimulus duration. Log CSs to low and high spatial frequencies loaded onto separate principal components, supporting the existence of two psychophysical mechanisms, transient and sustained. Critical conditions were identified to tap each mechanism. Visual acuity was correlated moderately with log CS to high, but not low, spatial frequencies, and deficits found for acuity and CS to moderate/high spatial frequencies (4-21 cycles/degree) appear to reflect dysfunction in the sustained mechanism. CS deficits found at the lowest spatial frequency tested (0.5 cycles/degree) appear to reflect dysfunction in the transient mechanism. Both types of CS deficits may have diagnostic value and implications for social and neurocognitive deficits in this disorder., (© 2020 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) studies have demonstrated differences between people with schizophrenia and controls. Many questions remain including the agreement between scanners. The current study seeks to determine inter-device agreement of OCT data in schizophrenia compared to controls and to explore the relations between OCT and visual function measures., Methods: Participants in this pilot study were 12 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 12 age- and sex-matched controls. Spectralis and Cirrus OCT machines were used to obtain retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and macular volume. Cirrus was used to obtain ganglion cell layer + inner plexiform layer (GCL + IPL) thickness. Visual function was assessed with low-contrast visual acuity and the King-Devick test of rapid number naming., Results: There was excellent relative agreement in OCT measurements between the two machines, but poor absolute agreement, for both patients and controls. On both machines, people with schizophrenia showed decreased macular volume but no difference in RNFL thickness compared to controls. No between-group difference in GCL + IPL thickness was found on Cirrus. Controls showed significant associations between King-Devick performance and RNFL thickness and macular volume, and between low-contrast visual acuity and GCL + IPL thickness. Patients did not show significant associations between OCT measurements and visual function., Conclusions: Good relative agreement suggests that the offset between machines remains constant and should not affect comparisons between groups. Decreased macular volume in individuals with schizophrenia on both machines supports findings of prior studies and provides further evidence that similar results may be found irrespective of OCT device., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Depressed mood is prevalent among individuals with schizophrenia, leading to difficulties in functioning. Typically, depressed mood is evaluated using retrospective assessments during which individuals are asked to recall their mood during the past week or month. However, as individuals with schizophrenia may display memory difficulties, the results of such assessments may be biased, potentially leading to inaccurate clinical characterizations and/or suboptimal treatment. Our aim was to assess the potential impact of long-term memory on depressed mood in individuals with schizophrenia. Employing an Experience Sampling Method (ESM) approach, 51 individuals with schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls rated their momentary emotions up to 10 times/day over a two-day period, along with retrospective measures of depressed mood, long-term memory, quality of life, social functioning, and symptoms. ESM assessment of real-time depressed mood demonstrated discriminant and convergent validity. Among the schizophrenia group, there was a significant correlation between the real-time and retrospective measures of depressed mood. However, once variance due to long-term memory was controlled, the relationship between the real-time and retrospective measure was no longer significant. The findings suggest that a real-time measure of depressed mood may allow overcoming some of the limitations associated with long-term memory difficulties common among individuals with schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Perception has been identified by the NIMH-sponsored Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) group as a useful domain for assessing cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Specific measures of contrast gain derived from recordings of steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEP) have demonstrated neural deficits within the visual pathways of patients with schizophrenia. Psychophysical measures of contrast sensitivity have also shown functional loss in these patients. In the current study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in conjunction with ssVEP and contrast sensitivity testing to elucidate the neural underpinnings of these deficits. During fMRI scanning, participants viewed 1) the same low and higher spatial frequency stimuli used in the psychophysical contrast sensitivity task, at both individual detection threshold contrast and at a high contrast; and 2) the same stimuli used in the ssVEP paradigm, which were designed to be biased toward either the magnocellular or parvocellular visual pathway. Patients showed significant impairment in contrast sensitivity at both spatial frequencies in the psychophysical task, but showed reduced occipital activation volume for low, but not higher, spatial frequency at the low and high contrasts tested in the magnet. As expected, patients exhibited selective deficits under the magnocellular-biased ssVEP condition. However, occipital lobe fMRI responses demonstrated the same general pattern for magnocellular- and parvocellular-biased stimuli across groups. These results indicate dissociation between the fMRI measures and the psychophysical/ssVEP measures. These latter measures appear to have greater value for the functional assessment of the contrast deficits explored here., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Both emotion and visual processing deficits are documented in schizophrenia, and preferential magnocellular visual pathway dysfunction has been reported in several studies. This study examined the contribution to emotion-processing deficits of magnocellular and parvocellular visual pathway function, based on stimulus properties and shape of contrast response functions. Experiment 1 examined the relationship between contrast sensitivity to magnocellular- and parvocellular-biased stimuli and emotion recognition using the Penn Emotion Recognition (ER-40) and Emotion Differentiation (EMODIFF) tests. Experiment 2 altered the contrast levels of the faces themselves to determine whether emotion detection curves would show a pattern characteristic of magnocellular neurons and whether patients would show a deficit in performance related to early sensory processing stages. Results for experiment 1 showed that patients had impaired emotion processing and a preferential magnocellular deficit on the contrast sensitivity task. Greater deficits in ER-40 and EMODIFF performance correlated with impaired contrast sensitivity to the magnocellular-biased condition, which remained significant for the EMODIFF task even when nonspecific correlations due to group were considered in a step-wise regression. Experiment 2 showed contrast response functions indicative of magnocellular processing for both groups, with patients showing impaired performance. Impaired emotion identification on this task was also correlated with magnocellular-biased visual sensory processing dysfunction. These results provide evidence for a contribution of impaired early-stage visual processing in emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia and suggest that a bottom-up approach to remediation may be effective.

The third meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) focused on selecting promising measures for each of the cognitive constructs selected in the first CNTRICS meeting. In the domain of perception, the 2 constructs of interest were gain control and visual integration. CNTRICS received 5 task nominations for gain control and three task nominations for visual integration. The breakout group for perception evaluated the degree to which each of these tasks met prespecified criteria. For gain control, the breakout group for perception believed that 2 of the tasks (prepulse inhibition of startle and mismatch negativity) were already mature and in the process of being incorporated into multisite clinical trials. However, the breakout group recommended that steady-state visual-evoked potentials be combined with contrast sensitivity to magnocellular vs parvocellular biased stimuli and that this combined task and the contrast-contrast effect task be recommended for translation for use in clinical trial contexts in schizophrenia research. For visual integration, the breakout group recommended the Contour Integration and Coherent Motion tasks for translation for use in clinical trials. This manuscript describes the ways in which each of these tasks met the criteria used by the breakout group to evaluate and recommend tasks for further development.

Visual processing deficits are an integral component of schizophrenia and are sensitive predictors of schizophrenic decompensation in healthy adults. The primate visual system consists of discrete subcortical magnocellular and parvocellular pathways, which project preferentially to dorsal and ventral cortical streams. Subcortical systems show differential stimulus sensitivity, while cortical systems, in turn, can be differentiated using surface potential analysis. The present study examined contributions of subcortical dysfunction to cortical processing deficits using high-density event-related potentials. Event-related potentials were recorded to stimuli biased towards the magnocellular system using low-contrast isolated checks in Experiment 1 and towards the magnocellular or parvocellular system using low versus high spatial frequency (HSF) sinusoidal gratings, respectively, in Experiment 2. The sample consisted of 23 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 19 non-psychiatric volunteers of similar age. In Experiment 1, a large decrease in the P1 component of the visual event-related potential in response to magnocellular-biased isolated check stimuli was seen in patients compared with controls (F = 13.2, P = 0.001). Patients also showed decreased slope of the contrast response function over the magnocellular-selective contrast range compared with controls (t = 9.2, P = 0.04) indicating decreased signal amplification. In Experiment 2, C1 (F = 8.5, P = 0.007), P1 (F = 33.1, P < 0.001) and N1 (F = 60.8, P < 0.001) were reduced in amplitude to magnocellular-biased low spatial frequency (LSF) stimuli in patients with schizophrenia, but were intact to parvocellular-biased HSF stimuli, regardless of generator location. Source waveforms derived from inverse dipole modelling showed reduced P1 in Experiment 1 and reduced C1, P1 and N1 to LSF stimuli in Experiment 2, consistent with surface waveforms. These results indicate pervasive magnocellular dysfunction at the subcortical level that leads to secondary impairment in activation of cortical visual structures within dorsal and ventral stream visual pathways. Our finding of early visual dysfunction is consistent with and explanatory of classic literature showing subjective complaints of visual distortions and is consistent with early visual processing deficits reported in schizophrenia. Although deficits in visual processing have frequently been construed as resulting from failures of top-down processing, the present findings argue strongly for bottom-up rather than top-down dysfunction at least within the early visual pathway. Deficits in magnocellular processing in this task may reflect more general impairments in neuronal systems functioning, such as deficits in non-linear amplification and may thus represent an organizing principle for predicting neurocognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Objective: Patients with schizophrenia demonstrate significant impairments of early visual processing, potentially implicating dysfunction of the magnocellular visual pathway. The present study evaluates transient visual evoked potential (tVEP) responses to stimuli biased toward the magnocellular (M) or parvocellular (P) systems in patients with schizophrenia vs. normal volunteers first to evaluate relative contributions of M and P systems to specific tVEP components in schizophrenia and, second, to evaluate integrity of early M and P processing in schizophrenia., Methods: Seventy-four patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were compared with 59 control subjects using separate stimuli to assess the tVEP response to M, P and mixed M/P conditions. Stimuli were biased toward M vs. P processing by manipulation of chromatic and achromatic contrast. C1, P1, N1 and P2 components were compared between patients and controls. All subjects showed 20/32 vision or better., Results: Waveforms were obtained to low contrast (M), chromatic contrast (P) and high contrast (mixed M/P) stimuli in both patients and controls. C1 was present to P and mixed M/P stimuli. Patients showed a significant reduction in amplitude and an increase in latency of the C1 component. P1 was elicited primarily by M and mixed M/P stimuli, whereas N1 was elicited primarily by P and mixed M/P stimuli. Patients showed reductions in both P1 and N1 amplitudes across conditions. However, only reductions in P1 amplitude survived covariation for between group differences in visual acuity. Further, P1 amplitude reductions in the M condition correlated with a proxy measure of global outcome., Conclusions: M- and P-selective stimuli elicit differential components of the tVEP. Patients with schizophrenia show significant reductions in response even to simple visual stimuli. Deficits, particularly within the M system, may correlate significantly with global outcome and level of community functioning., Significance: Whereas deficits in high-order cognitive processing have been extensively documented in schizophrenia, integrity of early-stage sensory processing has been studied to a lesser degree. The present findings suggest that deficits in early-stage visual processing are significantly related to overall clinical outcome in schizophrenia. Further, between-group differences in visual acuity may influence VEP results, even for subjects with 'normal' vision (20/32 or better).

Schizophrenia is associated with severe neurocognitive deficits that constitute a core feature of the disorder. Deficits have been most extensively studied in relationship to higher-order processes. This study evaluated the integrity of early visual processing in order to evaluate the overall pattern of visual dysfunction in schizophrenia. Steady-state visual-evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were recorded over the occipital cortex (Oz) in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (N=26) and in age-matched comparison volunteers (N=22). Two stimuli were used: windmill-dartboard and partial-windmill, which are contrast-reversing ( approximately 4 Hz), radial patterns with dominant low spatial-frequency content. Each stimulus was presented for 1 min. Fourier analysis was performed on the ssVEP data to extract the relevant temporal frequency (i.e., harmonic) components. Magnitude-squared coherence (MSC) was computed to estimate the relative signal level for each frequency component. The patients showed reduced amplitude and coherence of second harmonic responses in both conditions, but intact first harmonic responses in the windmill-dartboard condition. This finding of a differential deficit may indicate a significant loss in the magnocellular pathway, which contributes to the generation of the second harmonic component under these conditions. Early sensory deficits may lead to impairments in subsequent stages of processing.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia show deficits in early-stage visual processing, potentially reflecting dysfunction of the magnocellular visual pathway. The magnocellular system operates normally in a nonlinear amplification mode mediated by glutamatergic (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors. Investigating magnocellular dysfunction in schizophrenia therefore permits evaluation of underlying etiologic hypotheses., Objectives: To evaluate magnocellular dysfunction in schizophrenia, relative to known neurochemical and neuroanatomical substrates, and to examine relationships between electrophysiological and behavioral measures of visual pathway dysfunction and relationships with higher cognitive deficits., Design, Setting, and Participants: Between-group study at an inpatient state psychiatric hospital and outpatient county psychiatric facilities. Thirty-three patients met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, and 21 nonpsychiatric volunteers of similar ages composed the control group., Main Outcome Measures: (1) Magnocellular and parvocellular evoked potentials, analyzed using nonlinear (Michaelis-Menten) and linear contrast gain approaches; (2) behavioral contrast sensitivity measures; (3) white matter integrity; (4) visual and nonvisual neuropsychological measures, and (5) clinical symptom and community functioning measures., Results: Patients generated evoked potentials that were significantly reduced in response to magnocellular-biased, but not parvocellular-biased, stimuli (P = .001). Michaelis-Menten analyses demonstrated reduced contrast gain of the magnocellular system (P = .001). Patients showed decreased contrast sensitivity to magnocellular-biased stimuli (P<.001). Evoked potential deficits were significantly related to decreased white matter integrity in the optic radiations (P<.03). Evoked potential deficits predicted impaired contrast sensitivity (P = .002), which was in turn related to deficits in complex visual processing (P< or =.04). Both evoked potential (P< or =.04) and contrast sensitivity (P = .01) measures significantly predicted community functioning., Conclusions: These findings confirm the existence of early-stage visual processing dysfunction in schizophrenia and provide the first evidence that such deficits are due to decreased nonlinear signal amplification, consistent with glutamatergic theories. Neuroimaging studies support the hypothesis of dysfunction within low-level visual pathways involving thalamocortical radiations. Deficits in early-stage visual processing significantly predict higher cognitive deficits.

Patients with schizophrenia have repeatedly shown deficits in visual processing. These deficits have been well documented using visual backward masking (VBM). The VBM deficit in schizophrenia is thought to be due to aberrant interactions between magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) visual pathways. To date, no study has studied these claims with rigorous stimuli isolating M and P pathway responses. This study examined the function of each pathway and their interactions by creating M- and P-biased targets based on their known physiological properties. The M system responds to very low luminance contrast whereas the P system does not, and the P system responds to color contrast whereas the M system generally does not. Thus, to activate the P system, target letters and masks utilized color contrast, and to activate the M system, target letters and masks utilized very low luminance contrast. Four conditions were presented such that M- and P-biased targets were paired with both M- and P-biased masks. A significant Group x Mask Condition interaction was found when a P target was used in combination with an M or P mask, but not when an M target was used. In particular, schizophrenia patients needed significantly longer interstimulus intervals (ISIs) than controls to escape from masking in the P target/M mask condition, but not in any of the other three conditions. In addition, the critical stimulus durations (CSDs) for unmasked stimuli were significantly increased for both M and P targets in patients relative to controls. These findings demonstrate a significant impairment in M, but not P pathway, function in patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, deficits of letter identification, including those of P targets, may also reflect impairment of the M pathway given the priming function of the dorsal stream.

This study investigated relations between a measure of early-stage visual function and self-reported visual anomalies in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). Eleven individuals at CHR identified via the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) were recruited from a CHR-P research program in NYC. The sample was ~36% female, ranging from 16 to 33 years old (M = 23.90, SD = 6.14). Participants completed a contrast sensitivity task on an iPad with five spatial frequencies (0.41–13 cycles/degree) and completed the self-report Audio-Visual Abnormalities Questionnaire. Higher contrast sensitivity (better performance) to low spatial frequencies was associated with higher perceptual (r = 0.616, p = 0.044) and visual disturbances (r = 0.667, p = 0.025); lower contrast sensitivity to a middle spatial frequency was also associated with higher perceptual (r = −0.604, p = 0.049) and visual disturbances (r = −0.606, p = 0.048). This relation between the questionnaire and contrast sensitivity to low spatial frequency may be indicative of a reduction in lateral inhibition and "flooding" of environmental stimuli. The association with middle spatial frequencies, which play a critical role in face processing, may result in a range of perceptual abnormalities. These findings demonstrate that self-reported perceptual anomalies occur in these individuals and are linked to performance on a measure of early visual processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the dysfunction of early-stage visual processing in schizophrenia. Responses of patients to magno-cellular-biased stimuli; Neurocognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia; Relationship between smooth pursuit performance and sustained visual attention.

Background 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is the strongest known molecular risk factor for schizophrenia, with approximately 30% of individuals going on to develop this neuropsychiatric disorder. 22q11.2DS may thus provide a unique model to investigate the trajectory of schizophrenia. In schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, decreased amplitudes of early visual evoked potentials (VEP) are consistently reported. Thus, here, our aim was to use high-density electrophysiology (EEG) to investigate basic visual processing in individuals with 22q11.2DS and to understand how their neural responses compared to those of neurotypical controls and of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. Methods Seventeen individuals diagnosed with 22q11.2DS (age range: 14–35 years; M = 21.89, SD = 7.63), 11 neurotypical age-matched controls (age range: 15–38 years; M = 21.63, SD = 6.55), 15 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (age range: 31–64 years; M = 47.44, SD = 10.47), and 15 neurotypical age-matched controls (age range: 33–62 years; M = 47, SD = 8.87) participated in this study. An EEG visual paradigm (100% contrast, black and white checkerboard annuli centered against a grey background) with three interstimulus intervals (ISIs: 495, 995, and 2495 ms) was employed to investigate differences in the visual-evoked components N1 and P2. Different ISIs were used to investigate differences in sensory load and in adaptation to repetitive stimulation. Linear mixed-effects models were implemented separately for each of the components and for the 22q11.2DS and the schizophrenia samples compared to respective controls. Analyses focused on amplitude in the major VEP response differences between the groups at an occipital channel (Oz), as a function of ISI. Results 22q11l.2DS: In the N1 time window, there was no significant main effect of group. However, there was an interaction effect of Group x ISI, indicating that the difference between the shorter ISIs (495 ms and 995 ms) was decreased in 22q11.2DS compared to controls. Furthermore, the 22q11.2DS group had a smaller response for the two longer conditions, that differed significantly (995 ms) or trended (2495 ms). In the P2 window, analyses show an overall decrease in amplitude in 22q11.2DS compared to controls, significantly for all ISIs. The Group x ISI interaction reflected that the ISI effect was smaller in 22q11.2DS versus controls. Schizophrenia: Though not significant, individuals with schizophrenia presented somewhat increased VEP amplitudes compared to controls. This result is contrary to what is described in the literature, where individuals with schizophrenia usually exhibit VEP amplitude reductions, and may be related to the older age of the sample. Discussion The 22q11.2DS sample showed reduced VEPs, consistent with what is typically described in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and showed a different ISI function compared to controls. Further analyses will be directed at determining how the 22q11.2DS responses differ as a function of psychotic symptomatology, how they compare to control and schizophrenia groups, and with more data, if these neural responses may be predictive of psychosis. A schizophrenia sample age-matched to the 22q11.2DS sample will be crucial to better understand the similarities and differences between these populations. In such a sample (including a control group), confounding effects from variables such as age, years of medication, and neural consequences of psychotic symptomatology may be studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]