The Neural Correlates of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: Examples From MRI Literature

AbstractBackgroundBipolar disorder I (BD-I) is defined by episodes of mania, depression and euthymic states. These episodes are among other symptoms characterized by altered reward processing and negative symptoms (NS), in particular apathy. However, the neural correlates of these deficits are not well understood.MethodsWe first assessed the severity of NS in 25 euthymic BD-I patients compared with 25 healthy controls (HC) and 27 patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Then, we investigated ventral (VS) and dorsal striatal (DS) activation during reward anticipation in a Monetary Incentive Delayed Task and its association with NS.ResultsIn BD-I patients NS were clearly present and the severity of apathy was comparable to SZ patients. Apathy scores in the BD-I group but not in the SZ group correlated with sub-syndromal depression scores. At the neural level, we found significant VS and DS activation in BD-I patients and no group differences with HC or SZ patients. In contrast to patients with SZ, apathy did not correlate with striatal activation during reward anticipation. Explorative whole-brain analyses revealed reduced extra-striatal activation in BD-I patients compared with HC and an association between reduced activation of the inferior frontal gyrus and apathy.ConclusionThis study found that in BD-I patients apathy is present to an extent comparable to SZ, but is more strongly related to sub-syndromal depressive symptoms. The findings support the view of different pathophysiological mechanisms underlying apathy in the two disorders and suggest that extra-striatal dysfunction may contribute to impaired reward processing and apathy in BD-I.

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Differential Neural Correlates of Dimensions of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia During Social-emotional Appraisal and Effects of Treatment

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.183 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S40-S41

Author(s):

A. Aleman

Keyword(s):

Facial Expressions ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Emotional Expressions ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Symptom Dimensions ◽

Fmri Study ◽

The Social ◽

Emotional Appraisal

Factor analyses of large datasets have established two dimensions of negative symptoms: expressive deficits and a motivation. This distinction is of relevance as the dimensions differ in their cognitive and clinical correlates (e.g. with regard to functional outcome). Using functional MRI, we examined the neural correlates of the two negative symptom dimensions with brain activation during social-emotional evaluation. Patients with schizophrenia (n = 38) and healthy controls (n = 20) performed the Wall of Faces task during fMRI, which measures emotional ambiguity in a social context by presenting an array of faces with varying degrees of consistency in emotional expressions. More specifically, appraisal of facial expressions under uncertainty. We found severity of expressive deficits to be negatively correlated with activation in thalamic, prefrontal, precentral, parietal and temporal brain areas during emotional ambiguity (appraisal of facial expressions in an equivocal versus an unequivocal condition). No association was found for a motivation with these neural correlates, in contrast to a previous fMRI study in which we found a motivation to be associated with neural correlates of executive (planning) performance. We also evaluated the effects of medication and neurostimulation (rTMS treatment over the lateral prefrontal cortex) on activation during the social–emotional ambiguity task. The medication comparison concerned an RCT of aripiprazole versus risperidone. Compared to risperidone, aripiprazole showed differential involvement of frontotemporal and frontostriatal circuits in social-emotional ambiguity. We conclude that deconstruction of negative symptoms into more homogeneous components and investigating underlying neurocognitive mechanisms can potentially shed more light on their nature and may ultimately yield clues for targeted treatment.Disclosure of interestAA received speaker fees from Lundbeck.

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Neural Correlates of RTMS Treatment of Negative Symptoms

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(15)30035-3 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 44

Author(s):

A. Aleman ◽

J. Dlabac-de Lange ◽

E. Liemburg ◽

H. Knegtering

Keyword(s):

Negative Symptoms ◽

Neural Correlates

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Altered activation and functional connectivity in individuals with social anhedonia when envisioning positive future episodes

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291721000970 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Zhuo-ya Yang ◽

Rui-ting Zhang ◽

Yong-ming Wang ◽

Jia Huang ◽

Han-yu Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Similar Pattern ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Neural Mechanism ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Social Anhedonia ◽

Emotional Context ◽

Future Events ◽

Two Stages ◽

Cue Words

Abstract Background Anticipatory pleasure deficits are closely correlated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia, and may be found in both clinical and subclinical populations along the psychosis continuum. Prospection, which is an important component of anticipatory pleasure, is impaired in individuals with social anhedonia (SocAnh). In this study, we examined the neural correlates of envisioning positive future events in individuals with SocAnh. Methods Forty-nine individuals with SocAnh and 33 matched controls were recruited to undergo functional MRI scanning, during which they were instructed to simulate positive or neutral future episodes according to cue words. Two stages of prospection were distinguished: construction and elaboration. Results Reduced activation at the caudate and the precuneus when prospecting positive (v. neutral) future events was observed in individuals with SocAnh. Furthermore, compared with controls, increased functional connectivity between the caudate and the inferior occipital gyrus during positive (v. neutral) prospection was found in individuals with SocAnh. Both groups exhibited a similar pattern of brain activation for the construction v. elaboration contrast, regardless of the emotional context. Conclusions Our results provide further evidence on the neural mechanism of anticipatory pleasure deficits in subclinical individuals with SocAnh and suggest that altered cortico-striatal circuit may play a role in anticipatory pleasure deficits in these individuals.

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Shared and dissociable features of apathy and reward system dysfunction in bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia

10.1101/546036 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matthias Kirschner ◽

Flurin Cathomas ◽

Andrei Manoliu ◽

Benedikt Habermeyer ◽

Joe J. Simon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Reward System ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Monetary Incentive ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Group Differences ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Reward Anticipation

AbstractBackgroundBipolar disorder I (BD-I) is defined by episodes of mania, depression, and euthymic states. These episodes are among other symptoms characterized by altered reward processing and negative symptoms (NS), in particular apathy. However, the neural correlates of these deficits are not well understood.MethodsWe first assessed the severity of negative symptoms in 25 euthymic BD-I patients compared to 25 healthy controls (HC) and 27 patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Then, we investigated ventral and dorsal striatal activation during reward anticipation in a Monetary Incentive Delayed Task and its association with NS.ResultsIn BD-I patients NS were clearly present and the severity of apathy was comparable to SZ patients. Apathy scores in the BD-I group but not in the SZ group correlated with sub-syndromal depression scores. At the neural level, we found significant ventral and dorsal striatal activation in BD-I patients and no group differences with HC or SZ patients. In contrast to patients with SZ, apathy did not correlate with striatal activation during reward anticipation. Explorative whole brain analyses revealed reduced extra-striatal activation in BD-I patients compared to HC and an association between reduced activation of the inferior frontal gyrus and apathy.ConclusionThis study found that in BD-I patients apathy is present to an extent comparable to schizophrenia, but is more strongly related to sub-syndromal depressive symptoms. The findings support the view of different pathophysiological mechanisms underlying apathy in the two disorders and suggest that extra-striatal dysfunction may contribute to impaired reward processing and apathy in BD-I.

Download Full-text