Brain activation patterns during a selective attention test--a functional MRI study in healthy volunteers and unmedicated patients during an acute episode of schizophrenia.
In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of high functioning outpatients with remitted schizophrenia, we found increased activity compared with healthy subjects across multiple areas of the brain, including the dorsolateral frontal cortex and the anterior cingulate, during a modified Stroop task. The same fMRI procedure was used in this subsequent study to investigate eight unmedicated patients during an acute episode of schizophrenia and eight healthy control subjects. Patients showed a reduced activation in dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal regions and a higher activation in temporal regions and posterior cingulate compared to healthy controls. Healthy controls showed a trend towards higher accuracy in the modified Stroop task compared to schizophrenia patients. Treatment with second generation antipsychotics may improve executive performance in patients with schizophrenia and facilitate a normalization of functional hypofrontality after symptomatic improvement.
Weiss
Elisabeth M
EM
Department of General Psychiatry, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. elisabeth.weiss@uibk.ac.at
Siedentopf
Christian
C
Golaszewski
Stefan
S
Mottaghy
Felix M
FM
Hofer
Alex
A
Kremser
Christian
C
Felber
Stefan
S
Fleischhacker
W Wolfgang
WW
D000208:Acute Disease; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012660:Semantics; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology