Illness insight and neurophysiological error-processing deficits in schizophrenia

Impaired illness insight in schizophrenia is associated with non-adherence and worse outcomes. Schizophrenia patients also exhibit error-monitoring deficits, which have been proposed to cause poor insight. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether schizophrenia patients' deficits in neurophysiological error-monitoring indices, the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes, are associated with impaired insight. ERPs were recorded in 18 schizophrenia patients and 18 normal comparison participants during a Stroop task. Patients' subnormal ERN and Pe amplitudes did not correlate with insight, suggesting that impaired insight in schizophrenia stems from neurocognitive mechanisms other than deficient error monitoring. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (INO-112359)