title: Altered medial prefrontal activity during dynamic face processing in schizophrenia spectrum patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Processing the emotional content of faces is recognised as a key deficit of schizophrenia, associated with poorer functional outcomes and possibly contributing to the severity of clinical symptoms such as paranoia. At the neural level, fMRI studies have reported altered limbic activity in response to facial stimuli. However, previous studies may be limited by the use of cognitively demanding tasks and static facial stimuli. To address these issues, the current study used a face processing task involving both passive face viewing and dynamic social stimuli. Such a task may (1) lack the potentially confounding effects of high cognitive demands and (2) show higher ecological validity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Functional MRI was used to examine neural activity in 25 patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy controls while they participated in a face processing task, which involved viewing videos of angry and neutral facial expressions, and a non-biological baseline condition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While viewing faces, patients showed significantly weaker deactivation of the medial prefrontal cortex, including the anterior cingulate, and decreased activation in the left cerebellum, compared to controls. Patients also showed weaker medial prefrontal deactivation while viewing the angry faces relative to baseline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given that the anterior cingulate plays a role in processing negative emotion, weaker deactivation of this region in patients while viewing faces may contribute to an increased perception of social threat. Future studies examining the neurobiology of social cognition in schizophrenia using fMRI may help establish targets for treatment interventions.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mothersill
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Derek W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sinead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Transdisciplinary Science and Translational Prevention Program (TSTPP), Research Triangle Institute International, Baltimore, MD, United States.
authors.forename: Emma Jane
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bokde
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reilly
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Aiden P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Corvin
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Trinity College Institute for Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address: gary.donohoe@nuigalway.ie.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donohoe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: emotion; face processing; medial prefrontal; schizophrenia