A single brain signal may explain schizophrenia's most puzzling symptoms

Key points

• Researchers found weaker, slower beta-band brain activity in people with schizophrenia than in healthy participants.
• Participants with the most abnormal brain signals had more timing difficulties, disorganized speech and severe symptoms.
• The study included only 50 people, and researchers say larger studies are needed to confirm the findings.

Scientists have identified a brain signal that may help explain why schizophrenia causes such a wide range of symptoms, including problems with perception, movement and speech. The research, published in Science Advances, suggests these seemingly unrelated problems could share a common disruption in how the brain processes information.

The study was conducted by researchers from McGill University, the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, the University of Montreal, the Research Centre of the University of Montreal Health Centre and the Douglas Research Centre. They examined beta-band brain activity, rhythmic electrical patterns involved in coordinating information processing, perception and movement, in 25 people with schizophrenia and 25 healthy participants.

What the study found

Participants completed tasks testing how accurately they judged the timing of visual and auditory information, and their speech was analyzed for signs of disorganized thinking. People with schizophrenia showed weaker and slower beta-band activity than the control group.

Those with the most pronounced abnormalities in this signal also tended to have greater difficulty processing the timing of sights and sounds, more disorganized speech and more severe clinical symptoms. The researchers used high-resolution magnetoencephalography, or MEG, to measure brain activity at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre.

This gives us early but compelling evidence that measuring the brain's operations, especially how it builds and revises its own model of the world, may help us appreciate that there is a common thread behind the confusing array of symptoms we see in disorders like schizophrenia

— Dr. Lena Palaniyappan

Possible earlier detection

The findings could eventually help identify young people at greater risk of developing psychosis, which can include hallucinations or delusions. Early identification matters because the first signs of schizophrenia often appear in adolescence but may go unrecognized for a long time.

The researchers stressed that the results are preliminary. The study included only 50 participants, and they said larger, independent groups will be needed to determine how reliably the signal is linked to speech disturbances and symptom severity.