GATING AND HABITUATION DEFICITS IN THE SCHIZOPHRENIA DISORDERS

Gating and habituation deficits have been identified as major features of the schizophrenias. When gating and habituation functions are impa ired, the schizophrenia patient can neither efficiently screen out tri vial, distracting stimuli nor effectively attend to and process salien t stimuli in the environment. Along with the clinical significance and symptom correlates of gating and habituation deficits in schizophreni a, studies of these functions have produced much important data. Speci fically, such studies have demonstrated the involvement of structures in the cortico-striato-pallido-pontine (CSPP) neural circuitry in both schizophrenia and the normal processing of information. Thus, neurobi ological manipulations along various axes of the CSPP can allow invest igators to understand the neural basis of impaired gating and habituat ion in the schizophrenias. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.