N 2 event - related potential in schizophrenia – diffusion in time and space

Recent theories of schizophrenia have proposed a fundamental instability of information processing on a neurophysiological level (Andreasen et al, 1999; Winterer and Weinberger, 2004). It has been suggested that this instability can be measured as an increase in EEG noise or an increase in latency variability of event-related potentials (ERPs). Another common observation is a more diffuse activation of the prefrontal cortex on cognitive tasks, which is thought to reflect compensatory processes required due to inefficient processing (Kim et al, 2010).