Continuing Commentary Commentary on William A. Phillips & Steven M. Silverstein (2003). Convergence of biological and psychological perspectives on cognitive coordination in schizophrenia. BBS 26(1):65–82.
A common link between aging, schizophrenia, and autism?
Phillips & Silverstein (P&S, 2003) have proposed that NMDA-receptor hypofunction is the central reason for impaired cognitive coordination and abnormal gestalt-like perceptual processing in schizophrenia. We suggest that this model may also be applicable to non-pathological (or normal) aging given the compelling evidence of NMDA-receptor involvement during the aging process that results in age-related change in higher-level perceptual performance. Given that such deficits are present in other neurological disorders such as autism, an argument for a systematic assessment of perceptual functioning in these conditions may be posited.
