Cortical thickness of neural substrates supporting cognitive empathy in individuals with schizophrenia.
Cognitive empathy is supported by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC), insula (INS), supplementary motor area (SMA), right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), and precuneus (PREC). In healthy controls, cortical thickness in these regions has been linked to cognitive empathy. As cognitive empathy is impaired in schizophrenia, we examined whether reduced cortical thickness in these regions was associated with poorer cognitive empathy in this population.



41 clinically-stable community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia and 46 healthy controls group-matched on demographic variables completed self-report empathy questionnaires, a cognitive empathy task, and structural magnetic resonance imaging. We examined between-group differences in study variables using t-tests and analyses of variance. Next, we used Pearson correlations to evaluate the relationship between cognitive empathy and cortical thickness in the mPFC, IFG, aMCC, INS, SMA, TPJ, and PREC in both groups.



Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated cortical thinning in the IFG, INS, SMA, TPJ, and PREC (all p<0.05) and impaired cognitive empathy across all measures (all p<0.01) relative to controls. While cortical thickness in the mPFC, IFC, aMCC, and INS (all p<0.05) was related to cognitive empathy in controls, we did not observe these relationships in individuals with schizophrenia (all p>0.10).



Individuals with schizophrenia have reduced cortical thickness in empathy-related neural regions and significant impairments in cognitive empathy. Interestingly, cortical thickness was related to cognitive empathy in controls but not in the schizophrenia group. We discuss other mechanisms that may account for cognitive empathy impairment in schizophrenia.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA; Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 633 N Saint Clair Street, 19th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Suena H
SH
Massey
Department of Neuroscience, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Daniel
D
Stern
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Eva C
EC
Alden
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Julie E
JE
Petersen
Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, 1036 SWKT, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
Derin J
DJ
Cobia
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA; Department of Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N Saint Clair Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Lei
L
Wang
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
John G
JG
Csernansky
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-100, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Electronic address: matthewsmith@northwestern.edu.
Matthew J
MJ
Smith
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
Cortical thickness; Empathy; Schizophrenia; Social cognition
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