Manifest disease and motor cortex reactivity in twins discordant for schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is often associated with difficulties in distinguishing between actions of self and of others. This could reflect dysfunction of the mirror neuron system which directly matches observed and executed actions. We studied 11 people with schizophrenia and their co-twins without manifest disease, using stimulus-induced changes in the magnetoencephalographic approximately 20 Hz rhythm as an index of activation in the motor cortex part of the mirror neuron system. During action observation and execution, motor cortex reaction was weaker in those with schizophrenia than in their co-twins, suggesting a disease-related dysfunction of motor cognition.
Brain Research Unit, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. schuermann@nottingham.ac.uk
Martin
M
Schürmann
Juha
J
Järveläinen
Sari
S
Avikainen
Tyrone D
TD
Cannon
Jouko
J
Lönnqvist
Matti
M
Huttunen
Riitta
R
Hari
D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology