title: Decreased activity in right-hemisphere structures involved in social cognition in siblings discordant for schizophrenia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Sections of Cognitive Neurology and Psychiatry, Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia (FLENI), Argentina.
authors.forename: Delfina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Achával
authors.forename: Mirta F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Villarreal
authors.forename: Elsa Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Costanzo
authors.forename: Jazmín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Douer
authors.forename: Mariana N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Martina C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: Charles B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Nemeroff
authors.forename: Elvina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Karl-Jürgen
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Bär
authors.forename: Salvador M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Guinjoan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D035781:Siblings; D012919:Social Behavior; D056345:Theory of Mind; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen