scholarly journals A Delusion of Control - What happens to a sense of Agency in Schizophrenic patients?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-11
Author(s):  
Vikram Thakur ◽  
◽  
Steven Smithies
Keyword(s):  
Action Selection ◽  
Frontal Lobes ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Step Model ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Comparator Model

The sense of agency is known to be disrupted in Schizophrenia. This article explores the transition from the comparator model to the two-step model of agency, in order to review the paper ‘In and out of control: brain mechanisms linking fluency of action selection to self-agency in patients with Schizophrenia’1. A sense of agency involves using retrospective cues to make causal inferences, but this paper also introduces a new, prospective aspect. This paper shows that subliminal priming, a prospective cue, increases the reported sense of agency over a subsequent action outcome. It also shows that in schizophrenic patients, retrospective cues had more of an influence on their reported sense of agency, while conversely, prospective cues had less influence. This may reflect a greater reliance on retrospective cues in schizophrenia, which could be one of the underlying factors for some of the delusions seen in schizophrenia. Using fMRI measurements during the task, results suggest that angular gyrus activation reflects the experience of non-agency. In healthy controls, they saw altered connectivity between frontal areas and the angular gyrus associated with priming. In schizophrenic patients, there was no effect of priming on activation of the angular gyrus, or frontoparietal connectivity. In our review, we have introduced a putative schema that suggests that the action selection signals from the frontal lobes into the angular gyrus represent the prospective aspect of agency. This connection is disrupted In schizophrenia, and that may be why prospective agency is impaired.

scholarly journals Altered sense of agency in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome: behavioural, clinical and functional magnetic resonance imaging findings

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Zapparoli ◽  
Silvia Seghezzi ◽  
Francantonio Devoto ◽  
Marika Mariano ◽  
Giuseppe Banfi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Tourette Syndrome ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Intentional Binding ◽  
Action Monitoring

Abstract Current neurocognitive models of motor control postulate that accurate action monitoring is crucial for a normal experience of agency—the ability to attribute the authorship of our actions and their consequences to ourselves. Recent studies demonstrated that action monitoring is impaired in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, a movement disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. It follows that Tourette syndrome patients may suffer from a perturbed sense of agency, the hypothesis tested in this study. To this end, we recruited 25 Tourette syndrome patients and 25 matched healthy controls in a case-control behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging study. As an implicit index of the sense of agency, we measured the intentional binding phenomenon, i.e., the perceived temporal compression between voluntary movements and their external consequences. We found evidence of an impaired sense of agency in Tourette syndrome patients who, as a group, did not show a significant intentional binding. The more reduced was the individual intentional binding, the more severe were the motor symptoms. Specific differences between the two groups were also observed in terms of brain activation patterns. In the healthy controls group, the magnitude of the intentional binding was associated with the activity of a premotor–parietal–cerebellar network. This relationship was not present in the Tourette syndrome group, suggesting an altered activation of the agency brain network for self-generated acts. We conclude that the less accurate action monitoring described in Tourette syndrome also involves the assessment of the consequences of actions in the outside world. We discuss that this may lead to difficulties in distinguishing external consequences produced by their own actions from the ones caused by others in Tourette syndrome patients.

scholarly journals Association study of fibroblast growth factor genes and brain volumes in schizophrenic patients and healthy controls

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 283-284
Author(s):  
Afke F. Terwisscha van Scheltinga ◽  
Steven C. Bakker ◽  
Neeltje E.M. van Haren ◽  
Heleen B.M. Boos ◽  
Hugo G. Schnack ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factor ◽  
Association Study ◽  
Fibroblast Growth Factor ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Fibroblast Growth ◽  
Brain Volumes ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Growth Factor Genes

scholarly journals Altered Functional Integration in the Salience and Default Mode Networks in Euthymic Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Weifang Cao ◽  
Haoran Chen ◽  
Qing Jiao ◽  
Dong Cui ◽  
Yongxin Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Functional Integration ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Pediatric Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Connectivity Analysis ◽  
Functional Connectivity Density ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Functional Connectivity Analysis

Accumulating studies demonstrate emotional and cognitive dysregulation in the euthymic period of pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). However, the relative contribution of functional integration in human brain to disturbed emotion and cognitive function in the euthymic PBD patients remains unclear. In this study, 16 euthymic PBD patients and 16 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. A data-driven functional connectivity analysis was used to investigate functional connectivity changes of the euthymic PBD. Compared with healthy controls, the euthymic PBD exhibited greater global functional connectivity density in the left anterior insula and lower global functional connectivity density in the right temporoparietal junction, the left angular gyrus, and the bilateral occipital lobule. A distant functional connectivity analysis demonstrated altered integration within the salience and default mode networks in euthymic PBD. Correlation analysis found that altered functional connectivity of the salience network was related to the reduced performance in the backward digit span test, and altered functional connectivity of the default mode network was related to the Young Mania Rating Scale in euthymic PBD patients. Our findings indicated that disturbed functional integration in salience and default mode networks might shed light on the physiopathology associated with emotional and cognitive dysregulation in PBD.

INECO Frontal Screening: an Instrument to assess Executive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tânia Silva ◽  
Luís Monteiro ◽  
Emanuela Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test ◽  
Screening Tools ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Wisconsin Card Sorting ◽  
Sorting Test ◽  
Experimental Group

AbstractAlthough several brief sensitive screening tools are available to detect executive dysfunction, few have been developed to quickly assess executive functioning. The INECO Frontal Screening (IFS) is a brief tool which has proved be useful for the assessment of the executive functions in patients with dementia. The aim of this study was to explore whether the IFS is as sensitive and specific as the BADS, a battery designed to assess the dysexecutive syndrome, in schizophrenia. Our sample comprised a group of 34 schizophrenic patients (Mean age = 39.59, DP = 10.697) and 31 healthy controls (Mean age = 35.52, DP = 10.211). To all groups were administered the BADS, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and IFS. The results suggest that schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than the control group in all tests (p < .05). The IFS total score was 13.29 for the experimental group and 26.21 for the control group (p < .001). Considering a cut-off of 14 points, the IFS sensitivity was 100% and specificity 56% in detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia, compared with the BADS, that if we consider a cut-off of 11 points, was a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 50%. Thus, IFS is a brief, sensitive and specific tool for the detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Cognitive function in euthymic bipolar patients, stabilized schizophrenic patients, and healthy controls

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 283-284
Author(s):  
A. Rossi ◽  
P. Stratta ◽  
M. Grazia Marinangeli ◽  
E. Daneluzzo ◽  
M. Bustini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Bipolar Patients

Bereitschaftpotential in schizophrenia

1997 ◽  
Vol 171 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taha Karaman ◽  
Sibel Özkaynak ◽  
Korkut Yaltkaya ◽  
Çetin Büyükberker
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Clusters ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Voluntary Movements ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Late Component ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Motor Abnormalities

BackgroundSeveral reports have documented the presence of motor abnormalities in schizophrenic patients.MethodThirty schizophrenics and 28 healthy controls were included in the study. Scalp-recorded bereitschaftpotentials (BPs) generated prior to voluntary movements were recorded in all subjects.ResultsThe early (NSI) and late components of BP and peak negativity were reduced in all schizophrenic patients. In particular, the NSI was reduced in patients with positive symptoms, and the late component in patients with negative symptoms.ConclusionsThese findings provide further support for the involvement of frontal cortex, subcortical structures and their connections in schizophrenia, and highlight some differences between positive and negative symptom clusters.

scholarly journals “No Pain No Gain”: Evidence from a Parcel-Wise Brain Morphometry Study on the Volitional Quality of Elite Athletes

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaoxia Wei ◽  
Ruoguang Si ◽  
Youfa Li ◽  
Ying Yao ◽  
Lizhen Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Elite Athletes ◽  
National Level ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobe ◽  
Brain Morphometry ◽  
Volitional Behavior

Volition is described as a psychological construct with great emphasis on the sense of agency. During volitional behavior, an individual always presents a volitional quality, an intrapersonal trait for dealing with adverse circumstances, which determines the individual’s persistence of action toward their intentions or goals. Elite athletes are a group of experts with superior volitional quality and, thereby, could be regarded as the natural subject pool to investigate this mental trait. The purpose of this study was to examine brain morphometric characteristics associated with volitional quality by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the Scale of Volitional Quality. We recruited 16 national-level athletes engaged in short track speed skating and 18 healthy controls matched with age and gender. A comparison of a parcel-wise brain anatomical characteristics of the healthy controls with those of the elite athletes revealed three regions with significantly increased cortical thickness in the athlete group. These regions included the left precuneus, the left inferior parietal lobe, and the right superior frontal lobe, which are the core brain regions involved in the sense of agency. The mean cortical thickness of the left inferior parietal lobe was significantly correlated with the independence of volitional quality (a mental trait that characterizes one’s intendency to control his/her own behavior and make decisions by applying internal standards and/or objective criteria). These findings suggest that sports training is an ideal model for better understanding the neural mechanisms of volitional behavior in the human brain.

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