SPET study of verbal fluency in schizophrenia and epilepsy

1998 ◽  
Vol 173 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. C. Mellers ◽  
Naoto Adachi ◽  
Noriyoshi Takei ◽  
Alice Cluckie ◽  
Brian K. Toone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Temporal Lobes ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Fluency Task

BackgroundThe association between temporal lobe epilepsy and schizophrenia suggests that the critical abnormality may be pathology within the temporal lobes. People with schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy (SLPE) provide a useful group in which to examine the importance of temporal and frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia.MethodA verbal fluency activation paradigm and a 99mTc HMPAO SPET were used to study frontotemporal function in people with SLPE (n = 12), schizophrenia (n = 11) and epilepsy (n = 16).ResultsPeople with SLPE differed from both other groups by showing lower blood flow in the left superior temporal gyrus during performance of a verbal fluency task compared with a word repetition task (F=5.4, P=0.01). During the verbal fluency task people with primary schizophrenia showed a greater increase in blood flow in anterior cingulate (F=4.5, P=0.02) than the other two groups. There were no between-group differences in frontal brain regions.ConclusionOur findings support an association between left temporal lobe abnormality and SLPE. The different patterns of activation observed in people with primary schizophrenia and SLPE suggests that different pathophysiological mechanisms may operate in these two groups. In SLPE the pathophysiology may be relatively confined to the dominant temporal lobe.

scholarly journals Regional Brain Activity in Chronic Schizophrenic Patients during the Performance of a Verbal Fluency Task

1995 ◽  
Vol 167 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Frith ◽  
K. J. Friston ◽  
S. Herold ◽  
D. Silbersweig ◽  
P. Fletcher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenic ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Superior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Willed Action ◽  
Fluency Task

BackgroundThis study examined the pattern of cerebral blood flow observed in chronic schizophrenic patients while they performed a paced verbal fluency task. Such tasks engage a distributed brain system associated with willed action. Since willed action is impaired in many chronic schizophrenic patients we hypothesised that task performance would be associated with an abnormal pattern of blood flow.MethodPositron emission tomography (PET) was applied to 18 chronic schizophrenic patients stratified into three groups on the basis of verbal fluency performance and current symptoms. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured while the patients performed (a) verbal fluency, (b) word categorisation, and (c) word repetition. Results were compared with six normal controls matched for age, sex and premorbid IQ. Analysis was restricted to six brain regions previously identified in studies of normal volunteers.ResultsIn five brain areas, including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the patients showed the same pattern of activation as control subjects. However, in the left superior temporal cortex, all patient groups failed to show the normal decrease in blood flow when verbal fluency was compared with word repetition.ConclusionThese observations suggest that (a) chronic schizophrenic patients can show a normal magnitude of frontal activation when matched for performance with controls, and (b) they fail to show the expected reductions of activity in the superior temporal cortex. This latter result may reflect abnormal functional connectivity between frontal and temporal cortex.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of executive function and working memory in the ‘at-risk mental state’

2009 ◽  
Vol 194 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Broome ◽  
Pall Matthiasson ◽  
Paolo Fusar-Poli ◽  
James B. Woolley ◽  
Louise C. Johns ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Risk Group ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Fluency Task ◽  
At Risk Mental State

BackgroundPeople with prodromal symptoms have a very high risk of developing psychosis.AimsTo use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neurocognitive basis of this vulnerability.MethodCross-sectional comparison of regional activation in individuals with an ‘at-risk mental state’ (at-risk group: n=17), patients with first-episode schizophreniform psychosis (psychosis group: n=10) and healthy volunteers (controls: n=15) during an overt verbal fluency task and an N-back working memory task.ResultsA similar pattern of between-group differences in activation was evident across both tasks. Activation in the at-risk group was intermediate relative to that in controls and the psychosis group in the inferior frontal and anterior cingulate cortex during the verbal fluency task and in the inferior frontal, dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortex during the N-back task.ConclusionsThe at-risk mental state is associated with abnormalities of regional brain function that are qualitatively similar to, but less severe than, those in patients who have recently presented with psychosis.

Verbal Fluency in Schizophrenia: Reduction in Semantic Store

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Y.L. Chen ◽  
Eric Y.H. Chen ◽  
Charlotte K.Y. Chan ◽  
Linda C.W. Lam ◽  
Felice Lieh-Mak
Keyword(s):  
Patient Group ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Unresolved Issue ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Semantic Verbal Fluency ◽  
Food Animal ◽  
Fluency Task

Objective: This is a study of the word production of patients with schizophrenia using a semantic verbal fluency task to address the unresolved issue of retrieval or storage impairment. Method: Twenty-one patients with schizophrenia and 11 matched healthy subjects performed a semantic verbal fluency task on ‘food’, ‘animal’ and ‘transport’ categories in Cantonese for 3 minutes each on five separate trials. Results: Patients generated significantly fewer numbers of words compared with control on each trial. The estimated lexicon size of the patients was significantly smaller than that of the equivalent group. The amount of shared words and variable words generated in all five trials were reduced in the patient group. Conclusions: Our results suggest that poor verbal fluency in patients with schizophrenia may partly be attributable to reduction in semantic store. The importance of temporal lobe involvement on verbal fluency deficits needs to be emphasised as an integral part of the neurobiological basis of schizophrenia research.

scholarly journals fNIRS Evaluation of Frontal and Temporal Cortex Activation by Verbal Fluency Task and High-Level Cognition Task for Detecting Anxiety and Depression

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuenan Lang ◽  
Dan Wen ◽  
Qiqi Li ◽  
Qin Yin ◽  
Mingyu Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Cerebral Oxygen ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
The Subject ◽  
High Level ◽  
Fluency Task

Anxiety and depression are widespread psychosis which are believed to affect cerebral metabolism, especially in frontal and temporal cortex. The comorbidity patients of anxiety and depression (A&D) have more serious clinical symptoms. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive modality used to monitor human brain oxygenation, and it could be considered as a potential tool to detect psychosis which may lead to abnormal cerebral oxygen status when the brain is activated. However, how sensitive the cerebral oxygenation response to the cortex activation and whether these responses are consistent at different stages of A&D or different regions still remains unclear. In this study, a conventional physiological paradigm for cortex activation, i.e., verbal fluency task (VFT), and a relatively new paradigm, i.e., high-level cognition task (HCT), were compared to detect A&D through a longitudinal measurement of cerebral oxygen status by fNIRS. The A&D patients at the acute, consolidation and maintenance stages as well as the healthy subjects participated in the VFT and HCT paradigms, respectively. For the VTF paradigm, the subject was instructed to answer questions of phrase constructions within 60 s. For the HCT paradigm, the subject was instructed to categorize items, logical reasoning, and comprehensive judgment and write down the answers within 60 s. For most of the subjects, the oxy-Hb is found to increase remarkably, accompanied with a relatively small reduction in deoxy-Hb when subject to both paradigms. The statistical analyses show a relatively large variability within any group, leading to the significant difference that was only found between A&D at the acute stage and healthy subjects in the temporal lobe region (p < 0.001). Nevertheless, HCT would activate more oxygen increment when compared with the VFT, with a large integral value in oxy-Hb. On average, the oxy-Hb integral value of the A&D patients differs substantially at different stages when subject to HCT paradigm. Moreover, the prefrontal lobe and temporal lobe responses were more consistent to the HCT paradigm rather than the VFT paradigm. Under the VFT paradigm, however, no remarkable difference in integral value was found among the three stages, either at the prefrontal lobe or at the temporal lobe. This study indicated that HCT, which is intensively involved in brain function, would activate more oxygenation changes in the cerebral cortex. Additionally, with good performance at distinguishing different stages according to the oxy-Hb criterion, the HCT has the potential to evaluate the therapeutic effects for A&D patients.

Influence of skin blood flow on near-infrared spectroscopy signals measured on the forehead during a verbal fluency task

NeuroImage ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 991-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshimitsu Takahashi ◽  
Yoriko Takikawa ◽  
Reiko Kawagoe ◽  
Satoshi Shibuya ◽  
Takayuki Iwano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Skin Blood Flow ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Fluency Task

scholarly journals Vagus Nerve Stimulation Amplifies Task-Induced Cerebral Blood Flow Increase

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoto Kunii ◽  
Tomoyuki Koizumi ◽  
Kensuke Kawai ◽  
Seijiro Shimada ◽  
Nobuhito Saito
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Vagus Nerve ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Vagus Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Refractory Epilepsy ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Stimulation Intensity ◽  
Blood Flow Increase ◽  
Fluency Task

BackgroundVagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an established palliative surgical treatment for refractory epilepsy. Recently, pairing VNS with rehabilitation received growing attention for their joint effect on neural plasticity. However, objective biological measurements proving the interaction between VNS effects and cortical recruitment are lacking. Studies reported that VNS induced little blood flow increase in the cerebral cortex.ObjectiveThis study tested the hypothesis that pairing VNS with a cognitive task amplifies task-induced cerebral blood flow (CBF).MethodsThis study included 21 patients implanted with vagus nerve stimulator to treat refractory epilepsy. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with sensors on the forehead measured CBF changes in the frontal cortices in response to VNS. Cerebral blood flow was measured when VNS was delivered during a resting state or a verbal fluency task. We analyzed the VNS effect on CBF in relation to stimulation intensity and clinical responsiveness.ResultsWe observed no CBF change when VNS was delivered during rest, irrespective of stimulation intensity or responsiveness. Cerebral blood flow changed significantly when a verbal fluency task was paired with VNS in a stimulation intensity-dependent manner. Cerebral blood flow changes in the non-responders showed no intensity-dependency.ConclusionOur results could be an important biological proof of the interaction between VNS effects and cortical recruitment, supporting the validity of pairing VNS with rehabilitation.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Attention in Post-Lexical Processes of Utterance Production: Dual-Task Cost in Younger and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110341
Author(s):  
Maryll Fournet ◽  
Michaela Pernon ◽  
Sabina Catalano Chiuvé ◽  
Ursula Lopez ◽  
Marina Laganaro
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Verbal Task ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Speech Task ◽  
Verbal Fluency Task ◽  
Dual Task Cost ◽  
Lexical Processes ◽  
Fluency Task

There is a general agreement that speaking requires attention at least for conceptual and lexical processes of utterance production. However, conflicting results have been obtained with dual-task paradigms using either repetition tasks or more generally tasks involving limited loading of lexical selection. This study aimed to investigate whether post-lexical processes recruit attentional resources. We used a new dual-task paradigm in a set of experiments where a continuous verbal production task involved either high or low demand on lexical selection processes. Experiment 1 evaluates lexical and post-lexical processes with a semantic verbal fluency task, whereas experiments 2 and 3 focus on post-lexical processes with a non-propositional speech task. In each experiment, two types of non-verbal secondary tasks were used: processing speed (simple manual reaction times) or inhibition (Go/No-go). In Experiment 1, a dual-task cost was observed on the semantic verbal fluency task and each non-verbal task. In Experiment 2, a dual-task cost appeared on the non-verbal tasks but not on the speech task. The same paradigm was used with older adults (Experiment 3), as increased effort in post-lexical processes has been associated with ageing. For older adults, a dual-task cost was also observed on the non-propositional verbal task when speech was produced with the inhibition non-verbal task. The results suggest an attentional cost on post-lexical processes and strategic effects in the resolution of the dual-task.

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