Psychotic experiences in childhood are associated with increased structural integrity of the left arcuate fasciculus – A population-based case-control study

Neuroanatomical markers of psychotic experiences in adolescents: A machine-learning approach in a longitudinal population-based sample

“…Cortical morphological measurements such as accelerated left frontal cortical thinning could be an early phenotype in psychotic experiences as evident from top discriminatory features in the models, with a reduction of cortical thickness being identified in several left hemisphere frontal cortical regions when predicting current and future PE, in particular, the pars-opercularis, a region in the inferior frontal gyrus strongly involved in language ( Costafreda et al, 2006 ). Significant impairments in receptive language scores and microstructural changes in the arcuate fasciculus, a language-related white matter tract connecting the inferior frontal gyrus, were previously reported in this cohort of adolescents with PEs at 11–13 years ( Blanchard et al, 2010 , Dooley et al, 2020 ). Accelerated frontal lobe cortical thinning has been observed in adolescents who developed depressive symptoms ( Bos et al, 2018 ), in externalising behaviours in adolescents ( Tanzer et al, 2020 ) and in adolescents at chronic high risk of psychosis ( Cannon et al, 2015 , ENIGMA Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Working Group et al, 2021 , Jung et al, 2011 ).…”

Microstructural changes along the cingulum in young adolescents with psychotic experiences: An along‐tract analysis

“…These regions correspond to the connecting overlying cortices as they network through the cingulum to the wider limbic system and beyond (Table 3, Figure 4). Using a similar cohort, our group has previously found white matter differences in children and young adolescent with PEs using similar tractography techniques, particularly in tracts connecting frontotemporal regions, including the arcuate fasciculus (subcomponent of the superior longitudinal fasciculi) (Dooley et al, 2020) and putamen white matter (O'Hanlon et al, 2015). The differences were localised to projections of the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (reduced RD along 32% and increased FA along 16% of the tract) and left arcuate fasciculus (reduced RD along 39% of the tract).…”

“…Mean tract lengths were 58.7 mm (subgenual), 10.4 mm (body), 20.6 mm (retrosplenial) and 6.3 mm (parahippocampal) resulting in 29, 5, 10 and 3 subsections in each section, respectively. This allowed examination of the maximum number of discrete subsegments along the length of each section (Dooley et al, 2020; O’Hanlon et al, 2015; Roddy et al, 2018). Diffusion metrics were extracted at each of these evenly spaced subsegments allowing point‐wise correspondence across subjects.…”

Psychotic experiences in the general population, a review; definition, risk factors, outcomes and interventions

“…A range of subtle neuro-anatomical differences have been observed in those reporting PE. These include, global and localised differences in grey matter volume and white matter integrity (Dooley et al, 2020 ; Satterthwaite et al, 2015 ), and widespread structural and functional differences across the frontal, temporal, & parietal lobes, and basal ganglia, all regions strongly implicated in psychosis (Drakesmith et al, 2016 ; Jacobson et al, 2010 ; Modinos, Ormel, & Aleman, 2010 ; Okada et al, 2018 ). Additionally, widespread functional dysconnectivity (default mode dysfunction in particular, but with increasing interest in the motor network) and network efficiency deficits (Drakesmith et al, 2015 ; Jacobson McEwen et al, 2014 ; Karcher, O'Brien, Kandala, & Barch, 2019 ; Orr, Turner, & Mittal, 2014 ; O'Neill et al, 2020 ).…”