Meeting overview: Sensory perception and schizophrenia, Lausanne, Switzerland June 31–July 1, 2014

Schizophrenia is increasingly being viewed as a “whole brain” disorder with deficits affecting widespread cortical and subcortical networks. Within this context, studies of visual cortical function may be particularly important both because visual processing deficits directly affect social and occupational function and because these systems are well characterized at the basic science level, permitting informative translational research. This article summarizes a conference on visual processing dysfunction in schizophrenia held in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 30 to July 1, 2014 and introduces this special issue. Speakers focused on multiple aspects of visual dysfunction in schizophrenia using behavioral, neurophysiological and fMRI-based approaches. Four main themes emerged. First was a focus on response disturbances within the early visual system, using paradigms such as sensory EEG and MEG-based responses. Second, behavioral deficits were noted in processing related to local interaction within visual regions, using paradigms such as Vernier acuity or contour integration. These deficits provided potential model systems to understand impaired connectivity within the brain in schizophrenia more generally. Third, several visual measures were found to correlate highly with symptoms and/or neurocognitive processing. Deficits in contour integration, for example, correlated highly with conceptual disorganization, whereas perceptual instability correlated with delusion formation. These findings highlight links between perceptual-level disturbance and clinical manifestation. Finally, the potential involvement of specific neurotransmitter receptors, including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors and alpha7 nicotinic receptors were discussed as potential etiological mechanisms. Overall, the meeting highlighted the contributions of visual pathway dysfunction to the etiopathogenesis of neurocognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.