title: Blunted brain activation in patients with schizophrenia in response to emotional cognitive inhibition: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) have deficits of facial emotion processing and cognitive inhibition, but the brain pathophysiology underlying these deficits and their interaction are not clearly understood. We tested brain activity during an emotional face go/no-go task that requires rapid executive control affected by emotional stimuli in patients with SZ using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five patients with SZ and 28 healthy control subjects were studied. We evaluated behavioral performance and used fNIRS to measure oxygenated hemoglobin concentration changes in fronto-temporal areas during the emotional go/no-go task with emotional and non-emotional blocks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with SZ made more errors and had longer reaction times in both test blocks compared with healthy subjects. Significantly greater activation in the inferior, superior, middle, and orbital frontal regions were observed in healthy subjects during the emotional go/no-go block compared to the non-emotional go/no-go block, but this difference was not observed in patients with SZ. Relative to healthy subjects, patients with SZ showed less activation in the superior and orbital frontal and middle temporal regions during the emotional go/no-go block.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that fronto-temporal dysfunction in patients with SZ is due to an interaction between abnormal processing of emotional facial expressions with negative valence and cognitive inhibition, especially during the rapid selection of rule-based associations that override automatic emotional response tendencies. They indicate that fronto-temporal dysfunction is involved in the pathophysiology of emotional-cognitive deficits in patients with SZ.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan; Department of Psychiatry, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 807-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuteru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Egashira
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan. Electronic address: kmatsuo@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan; Nagatoichinomiya Hospital, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi 751-0885, Japan.
authors.forename: Mami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanuki
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Katakura Hospital, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-0151, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.affiliation: Katakura Hospital, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-0151, Japan.
authors.forename: Kanji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010108:Oxyhemoglobins
keywords: Cognitive inhibition; Emotion; Face expression; Near-infrared spectroscopy; Schizophrenia