Association of intracortical inhibition with social cognition deficits in schizophrenia: Findings from a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Abnormal cortical-inhibition has been hypothesized to underlie social-cognition deficits in schizophrenia. Studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a neurophysiological probe have demonstrated cortical-inhibition deficits in this group. We compared TMS-measured short- and long-interval intracortical-inhibition (SICI & LICI) in antipsychotic-naive (n=33) and medicated (n=21) schizophrenia patients and in healthy comparison subjects (n=45). We also studied the association between cortical-inhibition and social-cognition deficits in the patients. Antipsychotic-naive patients had significant deficits in SICI (i.e., less inhibitory response). In this group, SICI had significant inverse correlations with emotion processing and a global social-cognition score. Impaired intracortical-inhibition may thus contribute to social-cognition deficits in schizophrenia. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.