Temporal lobe epilepsy and schizophrenia: Comparison of reaction time deficits.

Current theory suggests that temporal–limbic dysfunction is responsible for schizophrenic symtomatology. Such theory dovetails with many reports of a higher frequency of schizophreniform psychoses in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) than is found with other forms of seizure activity. To explore the possibility of a common neurological substrate for the 2 disorders, a variable foreperiod reaction-time task, on which early crossover has been found to be characteristic of many schizophrenics, was administered to 11 schizophrenics, 12 TLE patients, 9 generalized seizure patients, and 10 normal controls. Results show that only TLE and schizophrenic Ss showed an early crossover of regular and irregular preparatory interval gradients. Discussion focuses on the status of crossover as a marker variable, and relevant animal and human lesion literature is reviewed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)