title: Altered effective connectivity in drug free schizophrenic patients.
abstract: The present fMRI study aimed to investigate effective connectivity within a cortical-subcortical-cerebellar information processing network in drug free schizophrenic patients while performing a 2-back working memory task. The finding of enhanced thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical intrahemispheric connectivity could be interpreted as a compensatory increase of neuronal connection strength consistent with a model of cortical inefficiency in schizophrenic patients. Additionally, the result could be integrated into a model of deficient thalamo-cortical filter functions. Conversely, lower interhemispheric connectivity of the frontal and parietal association cortex appears to be the functional correlate of reduced cognitive performance in schizophrenic patients. The study demonstrated the feasibility to model information processing within cognitive networks and provided additional evidence for the concept of cognitive dysmetria in schizophrenia.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Germany. Ralf.Schloesser@uni-jena.de
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Schlösser
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Gesierich
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Kaufmann
authors: Goran
authors: G
authors: Vucurevic
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Stoeter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*