title: Working memory in schizotypal personality disorder: fMRI activation and deactivation differences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) is considered a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, sharing with schizophrenia cognitive, neuropsychological, epidemiological, and biological characteristics. Working memory may be one area of shared deficit, although to date, this is only the second study to investigate working memory in SPD using fMRI.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a block-design fMRI study, fifteen antipsychotic-naïve SPD and sixteen healthy control subjects performed blocks of a 2back visual working memory task and 0back continuous performance task while undergoing whole-brain fMRI at 3T. Whole-brain analyses were performed for the 0back>rest (fixation baseline) and the 2back>0back contrasts (isolating the working memory component from the visual perception and attention component). Parameter estimates were extracted to determine whether observed differences were due to task-induced activation and/or deactivation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Activation differences emerged between the two groups, without differences in task performance. In the 0back task, SPD showed decreased task-induced activation of the left postcentral gyrus. In the 2back>0back contrast, HC showed greater task-induced activation of the left posterior cingulate gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, insula, and middle frontal gyrus. These differences were due to SPD subjects' decreased task-induced activation in the left posterior cingulate gyrus, and task-induced deactivation in the remaining regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that compared to HC subjects, individuals with SPD may achieve comparable working memory performance. However, differences emerge at the level of functional neural activation, attributable to different task-induced activation and deactivation patterns. Such differential recruitment of neural resources may be beneficial, contributing to SPD subjects' ability to perform these tasks comparably to HC subjects.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Mai-Anh T
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vu
authors.forename: Heidi W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Thermenos
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.forename: Martina M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Voglmaier
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Niznikiewicz
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McCarley
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.forename: Chandlee C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Dickey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: 2-Back task; Cognition; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Schizophrenia; Schizotypal personality disorder; Working memory