Emotional face processing and flat affect in schizophrenia: functional and structural neural correlates

Lepage, Martín; Sergerie, Karine; Benoit, Audrey; Czechowska, Yvonne; Dickie, Erin W.; Armony, Jorge L.

doi:10.1017/s0033291711000031

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…As such, the association of negative symptoms with laterality is unclear or perhaps associations exist related to specific negative symptoms. For example, our group identified in FEP patients a significant correlation between higher social withdrawal ratings and reduced parahippocampal grey matter consistently on the right side [80], [81] whereas, in people with chronic schizophrenia, we revealed a significant positive correlation between flat affect ratings and parahippocampal activity bilaterally [82]. Although these studies did not explicitly investigate primary negative symptoms, a neurobiological association may exist with specific negative symptoms that was not explored in the abovementioned studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Cortical Thinning in Temporo-Parietal Junction (TPJ) in Non-Affective First-Episode of Psychosis Patients with Persistent Negative Symptoms

et al. 2014

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BackgroundNegative symptoms represent an unmet therapeutic need in many patients with schizophrenia. In an extension to our previous voxel-based morphometry findings, we employed a more specific, vertex-based approach to explore cortical thinning in relation to persistent negative symptoms (PNS) in non-affective first-episode of psychosis (FEP) patients to advance our understanding of the pathophysiology of primary negative symptoms.MethodsThis study included 62 non-affective FEP patients and 60 non-clinical controls; 16 patients were identified with PNS (i.e., at least 1 primary negative symptom at moderate or greater severity sustained for at least 6 consecutive months). Using cortical thickness analyses, we explored for differences between PNS and non-PNS patients as well as between each patient group and healthy controls; cut-off threshold was set at p<0.01, corrected for multiple comparisons.ResultsA thinner cortex prominently in the right superior temporal gyrus extending into the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), right parahippocampal gyrus, and left orbital frontal gyrus was identified in PNS patients vs. non-PNS patients. Compared with healthy controls, PNS patients showed a thinner cortex prominently in the right superior temporal gyrus, right parahippocampal gyrus, and right cingulate; non-PNS patients showed a thinner cortex prominently in the parahippocampal gyrus bi-laterally.ConclusionCortical thinning in the early stages of non-affective psychosis is present in the frontal and temporo-parietal regions in patients with PNS. With these brain regions strongly related to social cognitive functioning, our finding suggests a potential link between primary negative symptoms and social cognitive deficits through common brain etiologies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Cortical Thinning in Temporo-Parietal Junction (TPJ) in Non-Affective First-Episode of Psychosis Patients with Persistent Negative Symptoms

et al. 2014

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“…It has also been reported that these patients show reduced activation or connectivity in the amygdala and parahippocampus during emotion processing [104][105][106] . The nature of this association may be related to the involvement of the amygdala and parahippocampus in managing emotion.…”

Section: Relationship Between Rsfc and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 77%

Ventral medial prefrontal functional connectivity and emotion regulation in chronic schizophrenia: A pilot study

et al. 2013

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People with schizophrenia exhibit impaired social cognitive functions, particularly emotion regulation. Abnormal activations of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) during emotional tasks have been demonstrated in schizophrenia, suggesting its important role in emotion processing in patients. We used the resting-state functional connectivity approach, setting a functionally relevant region, the vMPFC, as a seed region to examine the intrinsic functional interactions and communication between the vMPFC and other brain regions in schizophrenic patients. We found hypo-connectivity between the vMPFC and the medial frontal cortex, right middle temporal lobe (MTL), right hippocampus, parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and amygdala. Further, there was a decreased strength of the negative connectivity (or anticorrelation) between the vMPFC and the bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and pre-supplementary motor areas. Among these connectivity alterations, reduced vMPFC-DLPFC connectivity was positively correlated with positive symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, while vMPFC-right MTL/PHC/amygdala functional connectivity was positively correlated with the performance of emotional regulation in patients. These findings imply that communication and coordination throughout the brain networks are disrupted in schizophrenia. The emotional correlates of vMPFC connectivity suggest a role of the hypo-connectivity between these regions in the neuropathology of abnormal social cognition in chronic schizophrenia.

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“…Fusiform gyrus is especially activated by the sight of faces (Taylor et al, 2012). Thus the hypoactivation of fusiform gyrus suggests impairment in processing of perceived visual stimuli in schizophrenia (Lepage et al, 2011; Seiferth et al, 2009). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography study of impaired emotion processing in first episode schizophrenia

Choudhary

Kumar

Tripathi

et al. 2015

Schizophrenia Research

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Background Schizophrenia cases have consistently shown to have behavioural and neurofunctional abnormalities but studies during early course are scarce. The present work assesses the performance of acute first episode schizophrenia cases on correlation of a facial emotion perception task with brain function using Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). Methods Twenty First episode schizophrenia cases and 20 matched healthy controls living in the community were enrolled. For cases, longest duration of illness was one year and treatment with neuroleptic did not exceed two weeks on the day of scan. To measure facial emotion perception (FEP) both groups were administered the Emotion battery from the Penn Computerized Battery followed by PET acquisition. SPM 8 analysis for group differences at p<0.001 was performed. Results Schizophrenia subjects showed hypoactivation of bilateral prefrontal cortices and fusiform gyrii, with significant hyperactivation of bilateral basal ganglia and left precuneus. Positive correlation of metabolism in prefrontal cortex and performance indices on emotions domain was seen. No correlation of CPZ equivalent days with metabolism in basal ganglia was observed. Conclusions The performance of schizophrenia cases on FEP task was significantly impaired in comparison to the control group. Brain regions implicated in emotion processing showed hypometabolism in cases as compared to controls. Failure of schizophrenia cases to optimally recruit brain circuitry may be contributing to deficits on FEP task. These findings suggest inherent deficits in neural circuitry of emotion processing in schizophrenia; devoid of confounding effects of neuroleptics and duration of illness.

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Emotional face processing and flat affect in schizophrenia: functional and structural neural correlates

Cited by 43 publications

References 43 publications

Cortical Thinning in Temporo-Parietal Junction (TPJ) in Non-Affective First-Episode of Psychosis Patients with Persistent Negative Symptoms

Cortical Thinning in Temporo-Parietal Junction (TPJ) in Non-Affective First-Episode of Psychosis Patients with Persistent Negative Symptoms

Ventral medial prefrontal functional connectivity and emotion regulation in chronic schizophrenia: A pilot study

F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography study of impaired emotion processing in first episode schizophrenia

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