title: The relationship between self-referential processing-related brain activity and anhedonia in patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: Despite the possible relationship between impaired self-referential processing and anhedonia, it has not yet been investigated. This study investigated an abnormality in brain activation associated with self-referential processing and its relationship with anhedonia in schizophrenia, specifically in self-related brain regions of interest. Twenty patients with schizophrenia and 25 controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while rating the degree of relevance between faces (self, familiar other, or unfamiliar other) and words (positive, negative, or neutral). Brain activation in self-related regions, including the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortices, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and insula, were compared between groups and their correlations with anhedonia level were calculated. Compared to controls, patients were less likely to rate negative words as irrelevant for the self face. Patients showed significantly increased activation in the ACC and precuneus compared to controls, irrespective of conditions. ACC activity in the self-neutral word condition was positively correlated with anhedonia score in patients. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia may have an abnormality in the self-related cortical midline structures and particularly, abnormal ACC activation may be involved in anhedonia. Disrupted self-referential processing may be a possible cause of anhedonia in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Ilsan-ro 100, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Suk
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea; Department of Occupational therapy, Chunnam Techno University, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Seong
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Joo
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joohan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eosu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Koo
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jaejkim@yonsei.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jae-Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: Anhedonia; Anterior cingulate cortex; Default mode network; Salience network; Schizophrenia; Self-referential processing