Backward masking task performance in stable, euthymic out-patients with bipolar disorder

Background. Several studies have suggested that visual backward masking (VB M) impairment is present in patients with bipolar disorder, but the clinica l features, such as current symptoms, treatment status and past burden of i llness that may contribute to the impairment have not been well described. This study examined well-characterized enthymic patients on two VBM tasks t o ascertain the extent of VBM impairment in this group and the clinical cor relates of this impairment. Method. Twenty-eight euthymic patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar d isorder were matched by age, sex and IQ with 28 non-psychiatric control sub jects. Both groups completed two VBM tasks; one required subjects to locate the target stimulus, one required identification of the target stimulus. R eaction times and error rates across a range of target-mask inter-stimulus intervals were assessed. Results. Patients were significantly slower and had more errors on both VBM tasks. There was a significant relation between reaction times on the iden tification task and past burden of illness, particularly past number of dep ressions. There was no discernible impact of treatment status on reaction t ime or performance, including no difference in lithium-treated versus not t reated subjects. Conclusions. These results are consistent with previous reports of neuropsy chological deficits in euthymic bipolar disorder patients. The potential be nefit to employing tasks such as VBM is that it may provide a method for re lating clinical variables such as illness burden with known neural pathways in order to elucidate better the pathophysiology leading to impaired cogni tive performance in patients with bipolar disorder.