The impact of cognitive training on spontaneous gamma oscillations in schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia patients exhibit less gamma-frequency EEG/MEG activity (>30 Hz), a finding interpreted as evidence of poor temporal neural organization and functional network communication. Research has shown that neuroplasticity-oriented training can improve task-related oscillatory dynamics, indicating some reorganization capacity in schizophrenia. Demonstrating a generalization of such task training effects to spontaneous oscillations at rest would not only enrich understanding of this neuroplastic potential but inform the interpretation of spontaneous gamma oscillations in the service of normal cognitive function. In the present study, neuromagnetic resting-state oscillatory brain activity and cognitive performance were assessed before and after training in 61 schizophrenia patients, who were randomly assigned to 4 weeks of neuroplasticity-oriented targeted cognitive training or treatment as usual (TAU). Gamma power of 40-90 Hz increased after training, but not after TAU, in a frontoparietal network. Across two types of training, this increase was related to improved cognitive test performance. These results indicate that abnormal oscillatory dynamics in schizophrenia patients manifested in spontaneous gamma activity can be changed with neuroplasticity-oriented training parallel to cognitive performance.