Oscillatory Gamma Activity Underlying Semantic Priming in Schizophrenia

Disorganization is one of the main symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ) and can be characterised by a loss of coherent and integrated thought and perception. One candidate mechanism of disorganization is altered high-frequency oscillatory gamma activity (>30 Hz). Oscillatory gamma activity, in typical development, is known to be involved in perceptual integration, i.e. the binding together of different representations in the brain to form a coherent percept, and several other cognitive functions including visual object recognition and semantic processing. Previous studies have shown that gamma activity is altered in SCZ during simple perceptual integration tasks, such as viewing visual illusions. Yet, no previous work has examined whether altered gamma activity may underlie more complex cognitive and perceptual disorganization in SCZ, such as semantic processing impairments. Therefore, in this study we will investigate how oscillatory gamma activity is altered in adults with SCZ compared to typically developing adults during a task measuring semantic processing and visual object recognition.