Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1473693

Differences in EEG complexity of cognitive activities among subtypes of schizophrenia

Provisionally accepted
Hang Qi Hang Qi 1Zhenzhen Yao Zhenzhen Yao 2*Gaofeng Zhao Gaofeng Zhao 3*Jing Zhang Jing Zhang 4*Chunlei Liu Chunlei Liu 1*Min Chen Min Chen 5*
  • 1 School of Psychology, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
  • 2 Shandong Mental Health Center, Jinan, China, Jinan, China
  • 3 Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, Shandong Province, China
  • 4 Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, China, Jining, China
  • 5 School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The neural mechanisms that underpin cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia remain unclear. Previous studies have typically treated patients as a homogeneous group, despite the existence of distinct symptom presentations between deficit and non-deficit subtypes. This approach has been found to be inadequate, necessitating separate investigation.Methods: This study was conducted at Daizhuang Hospital in Jining City, China, from January 2022 to October 2023. The study sample comprised 30 healthy controls, 19 patients with deficit schizophrenia, and 19 patients with non-deficit schizophrenia, all aged between 18 and 45 years. Cognitive abilities were evaluated using a change detection task. The NeuroScan EEG/ERP System, comprising 64 channels and utilising standard 10-20 electrode placements, was employed to record EEG signals. The multiscale entropy and sample entropy of the EEG signals were calculated. Results: The healthy controls demonstrated superior task performance compared to both the non-deficit (p < 0.001) and deficit groups(p < 0.001). Significant differences in multiscale entropy between the three groups were observed at multiple electrode sites. In the task state, there are significant differences in the sample entropy of the β frequency band among the three groups of subjects. Under simple conditions of difficulty, The performance of the healthy controls exhibited a positive correlation with alpha band sample entropy(r = 0.372) and a negative correlation with beta band sample entropy (r = -0.411). Deficit patients demonstrated positive correlations with alpha band sample entropy (r = 0.370), whereas non-deficit patients exhibited negative correlations with both alpha and beta band sample entropy (r = -0.451, r = -0.362). Under difficult conditions of difficulty, the performance of healthy controls demonstrated a positive correlation with beta band sample entropy (r = 0.486). deficit patients exhibited a positive correlation with alpha band sample entropy (r = 0.351), while non-deficit patients demonstrated a negative correlation with beta band sample entropy (r = -0.331).Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that cognitive impairment in specific subtypes of schizophrenia may have distinct physiological underpinnings, underscoring the need for further investigation.

    Keywords: Schizophrenia, working memory, EEG complexity, Frequency bands, sample entropy

    Received: 31 Jul 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Qi, Yao, Zhao, Zhang, Liu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zhenzhen Yao, Shandong Mental Health Center, Jinan, China, Jinan, China
    Gaofeng Zhao, Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, Shandong Province, China
    Jing Zhang, Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, China, Jining, China
    Chunlei Liu, School of Psychology, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
    Min Chen, School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.