An evaluation of structural and functional prefrontal deficits in schizophrenia: MRI and neuropsychological measures.
Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess prefrontal brain structure in 17 schizophrenic, 18 psychiatric control, and 19 normal control subjects of comparable age, social background, and educational status, while three neuropsychological measures were used to assess prefrontal functioning. Schizophrenic patients had significantly smaller prefrontal areas than both psychiatric control and normal control subjects in all three planes. When posterior brain area and temporal lobe were entered into statistical analysis as covariates, they did not explain the prefrontal deficits. Schizophrenic patients made more perseveration errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and had fewer correct responses on the Spatial Delayed Response Task than normal control subjects. Schizophrenic patients performed more poorly than psychiatric control subjects on the Block Design Test. No group differences were found on three other nonfrontal tasks. These data lend some support to the role of prefrontal deficits in the development of schizophrenia.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90089-1061.
A
A
Raine
T
T
Lencz
G P
GP
Reynolds
G
G
Harrison
C
C
Sheard
I
I
Medley
L M
LM
Reynolds
J E
JE
Cooper
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012737:Sex Factors
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents