Peak Alpha Frequency in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Healthy Volunteers: Associations With Visual Information Processing and Cognition

Background: Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with information processing abnormalities, including visual perceptual and cognitive impairments, that impact daily functioning. Recent work with healthy samples suggests that peak alpha frequency (PAF) is an electrophysiological index of visual information processing speed that is correlated with cognitive ability. There is evidence that PAF is slowed in SCZ, but it remains unclear whether PAF is reduced in BD or whether slower PAF is associated with impaired visual perception and cognition in these clinical disorders. Methods: We recorded resting-state brain activity (both eyes open and closed) with electroencephalography in 90 participants with SCZ, 62 participants with BD, and 69 healthy control participants. Most participants also performed a visual perception task (backward masking) and cognitive testing (MATRICS Concensus Cognitive Battery). Results: We replicated previous findings of reduced PAF in patients with SCZ compared with healthy control participants. In contrast, PAF in patients with BD did not differ significantly from that in healthy control participants. Furthermore, PAF was significantly correlated with performance on the perceptual and cognitive measures in SCZ but not BD. PAF was also correlated with visual perception in the healthy control group and showed a trend-level correlation with cognition. Conclusions: Together, these results suggest that PAF deficits characterize SCZ, but not BD, and that individual differences in PAF are related to abnormalities in visual information processing and cognition in SCZ.