scholarly journals Cognitive Brain Signatures of Youth With Early Onset and Relatives With Schizophrenia: Evidence From fMRI Meta-analyses

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 857-868
Author(s):  
Marie Arsalidou ◽  
Zachary Yaple ◽  
Tomas Jurcik ◽  
Vadim Ushakov

Abstract Deficits in cognitive function are a major characteristic of schizophrenia. Many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies examine brain correlates of cognitive function in adults with schizophrenia, showing altered implication of associative areas such as the prefrontal cortex and temporal cortex. fMRI studies also examine brain representation of cognitive function in adolescents with early onset schizophrenia and those at risk of the disorder, yet results are often inconsistent. We compile and analyze data from eligible fMRI studies using quantitative meta-analyses to reveal concordant brain activity associated with adolescent relatives of patients with schizophrenia and those with early onset schizophrenia. Results show similar functional hubs of brain activity (eg, precuneus) yet in opposite hemispheres and clusters in ventrolateral rather than dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Other areas of altered implication include the middle temporal gyrus, insula, and cerebellum. We discuss the findings in reference to the protracted maturation of the prefrontal cortex and possible effects due to the medication status of the two groups.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kangyu Jin ◽  
Zhe Shen ◽  
Guoxun Feng ◽  
Zhiyong Zhao ◽  
Jing Lu ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: A few former studies suggested there are partial overlaps in abnormal brain structure and cognitive function between Hypochondriasis (HS) and schizophrenia (SZ). But their differences in brain activity and cognitive function were unclear. Methods: 21 HS patients, 23 SZ patients, and 24 healthy controls (HC) underwent Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) with the regional homogeneity analysis (ReHo), subsequently exploring the relationship between ReHo value and cognitive functions. The support vector machines (SVM) were used on effectiveness evaluation of ReHo for differentiating HS from SZ. Results: Compared with HC, HS showed significantly increased ReHo values in right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and right fusiform gyrus (FG), while SZ showed increased ReHo in left insula, decreased ReHo values in right paracentral lobule. Additionally, HS showed significantly higher ReHo values in FG, MTG and left paracentral lobule but lower in insula than SZ. The higher ReHo values in insula were associated with worse performance in MCCB in HS group. SVM analysis showed a combination of the ReHo values in insula and FG was able to satisfactorily distinguish the HS and SZ patients. Conclusion: our results suggested the altered default mode network (DMN), of which abnormal spontaneous neural activity occurs in multiple brain regions, might play a key role in the pathogenesis of HS, and the resting-state alterations of insula closely related to cognitive dysfunction in HS. Furthermore, the combination of the ReHo in FG and insula was a relatively ideal indicator to distinguish HS from SZ.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Matsuoka ◽  
Shinsuke Koike ◽  
Yoshihiro Satomura ◽  
Naohiro Okada ◽  
Yukika Nishimura ◽  
...  

Abstract Suicide is a major cause of death in patients with schizophrenia, particularly among those with recent disease onset. Although brain imaging studies have identified the neuroanatomical correlates of suicidal behavior, functional brain activity correlates particularly in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ) remain unknown. Using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recording with a high-density coverage of the prefrontal area, we investigated whether prefrontal activity is altered in patients with ROSZ having a history of suicide attempts. A 52-channel NIRS system was used to examine hemodynamic changes in patients with ROSZ that had a history of suicide attempts (n = 24) or that lacked such a history (n = 62), and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 119), during a block-design letter fluency task (LFT). Patients with a history of suicide attempts exhibited decreased activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared with those without such a history. Our findings indicate that specific regions of the prefrontal cortex may be associated with suicidal attempts, which may have implications for early intervention for psychosis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingling Cui ◽  
Xiaohong Gong ◽  
Yanqing Tang ◽  
Lingtao Kong ◽  
Miao Chang ◽  
...  

A single-nucleotide polymorphism at the LHPP gene (rs35936514) has been reported in genome-wide association studies to be associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural system effects of rs35936514 that mediate the association are unknown. The present work explores whether the LHPP rs35936514 polymorphism moderates brain regional activity in MDD. A total of 160 subjects were studied: a CC group homozygous for the C allele (23 individuals with MDD and 57 controls) and a T-carrier group carrying the high risk T allele (CT/TT genotypes; 22 MDD and 58 controls). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. Brain activity was assessed using the amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF). MDD patients showed a significant increased ALFF in the left middle temporal gyrus and occipital cortex. The T-carrier group showed increased ALFF in the left superior temporal gyrus. Significant diagnosis × genotype interaction was noted in the bilateral lingual gyri, bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) (P<0.05, corrected). Results demonstrated that MDD patients with LHPP rs35936514 CT/TT genotype may influence the regional brain activity. These findings implicate the effects of the rs35936514 variation on the neural system in MDD.


2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 2263-2275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Zaretsky ◽  
Avi Mendelsohn ◽  
Matti Mintz ◽  
Talma Hendler

Interpretation of emotional context is a pivotal aspect of understanding social situations. A critical component of this process is assessment of danger levels in the surrounding, which may have a direct effect on the organism's survival. The limbic system has been implicated in mediating this assessment. In situations of uncertainty, the evaluation process may also call for greater involvement of prefrontal cortex for decision-making and planning of an appropriate behavioral response. In the following study, morphed face images depicting emotional expressions were used to examine brain correlates of subjective uncertainty and perceptual ambiguity regarding danger. Fear and neutral expressions of 20 faces were morphed, and each of the face videos was divided into three sequences of equal length representing three levels of objective certainty regarding the expressions neutral, fear, and ambiguous. Sixteen subjects were scanned in a 1.5-T scanner while viewing 60 × 6-sec video sequences and were asked to report their subjective certainty regarding the level of danger surrounding the face on a four-level scale combining definite/maybe and danger/no-danger values. The individual responses were recorded and used as the basis for a “subjective protocol” versus an “objective protocol.” Significant activations of the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were observed under the subjective protocol of internally driven uncertainty, but not under objective stimuli-based ambiguity. We suggest that this brain network is involved in generating subjective assessment of social affective cues. This study provides further support to the “relevance detector” theory of the amygdala and implicates its importance to behavior relying heavily on subjective assessment of danger, such as in the security domain context.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruoguang Si ◽  
James B Rowe ◽  
Jiaxiang Zhang

AbstractBrain-imaging research on intentional decision-making often employs a “free-choice” paradigm, in which participants choose among options with identical values or outcomes. Although the medial prefrontal cortex has commonly been associated with choices, there is no consensus on the wider network that underlies diverse intentional decisions and behaviours. Our systematic literature search identified 39 fMRI/PET experiments using various free-choice paradigms, with appropriate control conditions using external instructions. An Activation-Likelihood-Estimate (ALE) meta-analysis showed that, compared with external instructions, intentional decisions consistently activate the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the right insula and the inferior parietal lobule. We then categorized the studies into four different types according to their experimental designs: reactive motor intention, perceptual intention, inhibitory intention and cognitive intention. We conducted conjunction and contrast meta-analyses to identify consistent and selective brain activations within each specific category of intentional decision. Finally, we used meta-analytic decoding to probe cognitive processes underlying free choices. Our findings suggest that the neurocognitive process underlying intentional decision incorporates anatomically separated components subserving distinct cognitive and computational roles.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Klaus ◽  
Dennis J.L.G. Schutter ◽  
Vitória Piai

Language impairment is common after left-hemisphere damage. However, the involvement of perilesional and homologous contralateral regions in compensating for left-sided lesions remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine acute organizational changes in brain activity related to conceptual and lexical retrieval in unimpaired language production following transient disruption of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG). In a randomized singleblind within-subject experiment, we recorded the electroencephalogram from sixteen healthy participants during a context-driven picture-naming task. Prior to the task, the left MTG was perturbed with real neuronavigated continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) or sham stimulation. During the task, participants read lead-in sentences that created a constraining (e.g. “The farmer milks the”) or non-constraining context (e.g. “The farmer buys the”). The last word was shown as a picture that participants had to name (e.g. “cow”). Replicating behavioral studies, participants were overall faster in naming pictures following a constraining relative to a non-constraining context, but this effect did not differ between real and sham cTBS. Real cTBS, however, increased overall error rates compared to sham cTBS. In line with previous studies, we observed a decrease in alpha-beta (8-24 Hz) oscillatory power for constraining relative to non-constraining contexts over left temporal-parietal cortex after participants received sham cTBS. However, following real cTBS, this decrease extended towards left prefrontal regions associated with both domain-general and domain-specific control mechanisms. Our findings provide evidence that immediately after the disruption of the left MTG, the lexical-semantic network is able to quickly reconfigure, also recruiting domain-general regions.


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