Deficits in executive control have long been regarded as one of the hallmark cognitive characteristics in people with schizophrenia (SZ), and current neurocognitive models of SZ generally regard the dysfunctional anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as the possible neural mechanism. This however, contrasts with recent studies showing that conflict processing, a key component of executive functions that relies on ACC, remains relatively intact in SZ. The current study aimed to investigate this issue through two well-known electrophysiological signatures of conflict processing that have been suggested to originate from ACC, i.e., the N2 component of event-related potentials (ERPs) and frontal midline theta (FMθ) oscillations. We recorded 64-channel scalp electroencephalography from 29 SZ (17 women; mean age: 30.4 years) and 31 healthy control subjects (HC; 17 women; mean age: 29.1 years) performing a modified flanker task. Behavioral data revealed no significant differences in flanker conflict effects (lower accuracy and longer reaction times in incongruent trials than in congruent trials) between HC and SZ. Trial-averaged ERP and spectral analysis suggested that both N2 and FMθ were significantly impaired in SZ relative to HC. Furthermore, by sorting incongruent trials according to their reaction times within individual subjects, we found that the trial-by-trial modulation of N2 (larger amplitude and longer latency in slower trials) which was observed and localized in ACC for HC was totally absent for SZ. By contrast, the trial-by-trial modulation of FMθ (larger power in slower trials) was observed and localized in ACC for both groups, despite a smaller magnitude in SZ, which suggested that FMθ, not N2, might serve as the neural substrate of conflict processing in SZ. Taken together, our results enrich the current neurocognitive models of SZ by revealing dissociable neural responses between N2 and FMθ during conflict processing in SZ.

长期以来，执行控制中的缺陷一直被认为是精神分裂症（SZ）患者的标志性认知特征之一，当前的SZ神经认知模型通常将功能异常的前扣带回皮质（ACC）视为可能的神经机制。但是，这与最近的研究相反，后者的研究表明冲突处理是依赖于ACC的执行职能的关键组成部分，在深圳仍然相对完整。当前的研究旨在通过冲突处理的两个众所周知的电生理学特征来调查该问题，这些信号学被认为起源于ACC，即事件相关电位（ERP）的N2成分和额中线theta（FMθ）振荡。我们记录了来自29 SZ（17位女性;平均年龄：30岁）的64通道头皮脑电图。4岁）和31位健康对照受试者（HC； 17名女性；平均年龄：29.1岁）执行改良的侧翼任务。行为数据显示，HC和SZ在侧翼冲突影响方面没有显着差异（在不一致的试验中准确性较低，反应时间更长）。试验平均ERP和光谱分析表明，相对于HC，SZ中的N2和FMθ均显着受损。此外，通过根据不同受试者在不同受试者中的反应时间对不相符的试验进行分类，我们发现在HC的ACC中观察到并局限了N2的逐次试验调制（振幅较大，潜伏期较长）。深圳 相比之下，两组都观察到了FMθ的逐次调制（在较慢的试验中功率更大），并定位在ACC中，尽管SZ的大小较小，这表明FMθ而不是N2可能是SZ中冲突处理的神经基础。综上所述，我们的结果通过揭示SZ冲突处理过程中N2和FMθ之间的可分离神经反应，丰富了SZ当前的神经认知模型。