Cognitive Functioning and Visual System Characteristics in Schizophrenia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: increasing interest in visual disturbances in schizophrenia is connected with the fact that they are a potential biomarker for objectification of a mental condition. The nature of the relationship between visual disturbances and higher-level cognitive functions in schizophrenia remains understudied.

The aim of the study was to investigate differences in visual information processing between individuals with paranoid schizophrenia and healthy individuals, and to analyze the relationship between visual system characteristics with clinical and cognitive factors.

Patients and methods: thirty-three patients with the paranoid form of schizophrenia and 19 healthy subjects were included in the cross-sectional study. Cognitive impairment was assessed using a battery of BACS tests, and the severity of the mental state was assessed using the PANSS scale. Contrast sensitivity characteristics were measured by computer visocontrastometry.

Results: the study found that the visual system of persons with schizophrenia is characterized by hypersensitivity in the high and midrange, but decreased sensitivity in the low-frequency range. Decreased sensitivity in the low-frequency range was associated with better cognitive functioning and less pronounced productive symptoms. Medium frequencies at the trend level correlated with the digit sequencing tests, assessing working memory, and verbal fluency, reflecting speed of information processing.

Conclusions: our findings expand information on the character of the relationship between contrast sensitivity and cognitive function. The results of study will provide the basis for further research on the development of more effective non-medicinal methods to improve cognitive functioning.

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