Graph-theoretical analysis in Schizophrenia performing an Auditory Oddball task

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the organization of the brain functional network during an auditory oddball task in schizophrenia (SZ). Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded from 31 schizophrenic patients and 38 healthy controls. In a first step, coherence was used to estimate the similarity between the spectral content of each pair of electrodes. In a second step, a graph was generated from the similarity matrix and two network parameters were computed: the clustering coefficient and the path length. Our results indicate that SZ patients obtained lower clustering coefficient and longer path length variations between the baseline and the P300 response than controls. These findings suggest an abnormal organization of the brain functional network in SZ. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.