Nuno Gonçalo Gomes Fernandes Madeira
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Ricardo Filipe Alves Martins
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João Valente Duarte
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Gabriel Nascimento Ferreira Costa
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António João Ferreira Macedo Santos
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ABSTRACTBackgroundSocial cognition impairment is a key phenomenon in serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD). Although genetic and neurobiological studies have suggested common neural correlates, here we hypothesized that a fundamental dissociation of social processing occurs at an early level in these conditions.MethodsBased on the hypothesis that key structures in the social brain, namely the temporoparietal junction, should present distinctive features in SCZ and BPD during low-level social judgment, we conducted a case-control study in SCZ (n=20) and BPD (n=20) patients and controls (n=20), using task-based fMRI during a Theory-of-Mind (ToM) visual paradigm leading to interpretation of social meaning based on simple geometric figures.ResultsWe found opposite neural responses in two core ToM regions : SCZ patients showed social content-related deactivation (relative to controls and BPD) of the right supramarginal gyrus, a region which activity is required to overcome egocentric “overmentalizing”, while the opposite pattern was found in BPD; reverse patterns, relative to controls and SCZ, were found in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, a region involved in inferring other’s intentions. Receiver-operating-characteristic curve analysis showed 88% accuracy in discriminating the two clinical groups based on these neural responses.ConclusionsThese contrasting activation patterns of the temporoparietal junction in SCZ and BPD represent mechanistic differences of social cognitive dysfunction that may be explored as biomarkers or therapeutic targets.
Cognitive control under stressful conditions in transitional age youth with bipolar disorder: Diagnostic and sleep-related differences in fronto-limbic activation patterns