Decreased activity in right-hemisphere structures involved in social cognition in siblings discordant for schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Social cognitive deficits contribute to functional disability in schizophrenia. Social cognitive tasks in healthy persons consistently evoke activation of medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, temporoparietal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. We tested the hypo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: de Achaval, Delfina, Villarreal, Mirta Fabiana, Costanzo, Elsa Y., Douer, Jazmín, Castro, Mariana Nair, Mora, Martina C., Nemeroff, Charles B., Chu, Elvina, Bär, Karl-Jürgen, Guinjoan, Salvador Martín
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/16381
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/16381
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Schizophrenia
Siblings
Social Cognition
Theory of Mind
Fmri
Lateralization
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3.2
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Social cognitive deficits contribute to functional disability in schizophrenia. Social cognitive tasks in healthy persons consistently evoke activation of medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, temporoparietal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. We tested the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings share dysfunction of the same neural networks. METHODS: Neural activation during emotion processing (EP), theory of mind (ToM), and control tasks was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 14 patients with schizophrenia, 14 nonpsychotic siblings of patients with schizophrenia, and 14 matched healthy subjects. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed reduced activation of right hemisphere structures involved in EP and ToM including inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and right temporoparietal junction. These deficits were shared, in part, by unaffected siblings. The latter group demonstrated deficits in bilateral precuneus activation during ToM, not present in patients. CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenia appears to be associated with a deficit in activation of right hemisphere components of a ToM network. Such deficits are shared in part by those at high genetic risk but unaffected by schizophrenia.