Modulation of hemispheric asymmetry in executive control of attention in schizophrenia with atypical antipsychotic treatment: Potential benefits of olanzapine

Deficits in executive control of attention have been reported in schizophrenia patients, but can be ameliorated by treatment of atypical antipsychotics along with the symptoms. However, it remains unclear whether this effect is related to a modulation of hemispheric asymmetry in executive control by the medicine. In this behavioral study, we employed a lateralized version of the attention network test to examine the hemispheric asymmetry of executive control in schizophrenia patients before and after olanzapine treatment, compared to matched healthy controls. Executive control was measured as a conflict effect, indexed as the response time (RT) difference between incongruent versus congruent flanker conditions, and was compared between stimuli presented in the left and the right visual field (i.e., processed by right versus left hemisphere of the brain). Results showed that pre-treatment schizophrenia patients revealed a right hemisphere superiority in conflict effect (i.e., a smaller effect in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere), driven by the incongruent condition. Olanzapine treatment reduced this right hemisphere superiority by improving the efficiency of the left hemisphere in the incongruent condition. These results suggested that olanzapine treatment may improve the efficiency of executive control in the left hemisphere in schizophrenia patients.