Reduced Mirror Neuron Activity in Schizophrenia and Its Association With Theory of Mind Deficits: Evidence From a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Mehta, Urvakhsh Meherwan; Thirthalli, Jagadisha; Basavaraju, Rakshathi; Gangadhar, Bangalore N.; Pascual‐Leone, Álvaro

doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt155

Cited by 61 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…In conclusion, our study supports previous evidence of poorer mnES during action observation in schizophrenia [21,22,23,24]. Moreover, it goes further by showing that emotional cues might allow patients to recover mnES, at least in part.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Evidence of poorer mnES comes from transcranial magnetic stimulation studies [21,22] and from magneto-encephalography studies [23,24]. For example, deficient motor facilitation during action observation relative to the resting state was detected in antipsychotic-naive SCZ patients as compared with medicated SCZ patients and healthy comparison subjects [22]. Accordingly, a magneto-encephalography study demonstrated that untreated SCZ patients exhibit fewer waveforms and equivalent current dipoles in the right parietal lobe than healthy subjects [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, we should observe entirely different neural response patterns between patients and control participants during the observation of actions embedded both in neutral and emotional contexts. Previous studies have shown a poorer ability of SCZ patients in recognizing both actions [21,22,23,24] and emotions [27,28,29,30] as compared to HCs. Based on these data we favour the hypothesis that both mnES and responses to emotional cues are altered in first-episode SCZ patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Binding Action and Emotion in First-Episode Schizophrenia

Ferri

Costantini

Salone³

et al. 2014

Psychopathology

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Background/Aims: Several components of social cognition are compromised in schizophrenia (SCZ) from the early stage of the illness. In this study we first investigated whether mirror neuron-driven embodied simulation (mnES) is altered in first-episode SCZ. Second, we tested whether emotional cues impact on the mnES in SCZ patients. Methods: Twenty-two SCZ patients and 22 healthy controls (HCs) observed goal-related actions in either a neutral or emotional context during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Results: Observation of neutral action elicited a lower activity in the frontoparietal network in SCZ patients, as compared to HCs. Particularly, activation in the left inferior parietal lobule in response to the same condition negatively correlated with patients' self-experience disturbances. Moreover, observation of an action performed by an angry agent produced poorer neural activity in the right anterior insula in SCZ patients as compared to HCs. This difference was mostly due to the negative β-values shown by SCZ patients, which positively correlated with their empathy scores. No differences were found contingent upon the observation of an action performed by a happy agent. Conclusion: Our results show that emotional cues allow SCZ patients to partially recover mnES. However, their understanding of the emotional components of the actions of others will likely remain deficient.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Binding Action and Emotion in First-Episode Schizophrenia

Ferri

Costantini

Salone³

et al. 2014

Psychopathology

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“…In general it is probably more appropriate in humans to refer to a fronto-parietal mirror neuron system (MNS). Failure of this system has been considered important in disparate conditions including autism spectrum disorders (Hamilton, 2013), schizophrenia (Mehta et al , 2014), Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease (Alegre et al , 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does dysfunction of the mirror neuron system contribute to symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Eisen

Lemon

Kiernan

et al. 2015

Clinical Neurophysiology

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Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 2 Declaration of interest:The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 3 Abbreviations:ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ADM: adductor digiti minimi; APB: abductor pollicic brevis; bvFTD: Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia; FTD: Frontotemporal dementia; fMRI: functional MRI; MNS: Mirror neuron system; M1: Primary motor cortex; PTNs: Pyramidal tract neurons; vMPFC: Ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 4 AbstractThere is growing evidence that mirror neurons, initially discovered over two decades ago in the monkey, are present in the human brain. In the monkey, mirror neurons characteristically fire not only when it is performing an action, such as grasping an object, but also when observing a similar action performed by another agent (human or monkey). In this review we discuss the origin, cortical distribution and possible functions of mirror neurons as a background to exploring their potential relevance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We have recently proposed that ALS (and the related condition of frontotemporal dementia) may be viewed as a failure of interlinked functional complexes having their origins in key evolutionary adaptations. The mirror neuron system is considered by many to be the basis of primates' social cognition, with a clear evolutionary advantage. Impaired empathy and motor control has been related to a defective mirror neuron system. In ALS, the mirror neuron system might be implicated in empathy, the split-hand syndrome, gait, speech, and related languagegesture impairments.Eisen et al, Mirror Neurons in ALS 5

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“…There is indeed evidence, although still preliminary, of possible underdevelopment or impairment of the mirror system in autism [12] and in those psychiatric disorders [36] in which social competence is compromised [12]. A better knowledge of the molecular and neurochemical basis of this mechanism will represent a breakthrough for establishing new therapies and interventions based on solid experimental findings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%