Dataset Information

Error processing network dynamics in schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: Current theories of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia emphasize an impairment in the ability of individuals suffering from this disorder to monitor their own performance, and adjust their behavior to changing demands. Detecting an error in performance is a critical component of evaluative functions that allow the flexible adjustment of behavior to optimize outcomes. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) has been repeatedly implicated in error-detection and implementation of error-based behavioral adjustments. However, accurate error-detection and subsequent behavioral adjustments are unlikely to rely on a single brain region. Recent research demonstrates that regions in the anterior insula, inferior parietal lobule, anterior prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum also show robust error-related activity, and integrate into a functional network. Despite the relevance of examining brain activity related to the processing of error information and supporting behavioral adjustments in terms of a distributed network, the contribution of regions outside the dACC to error processing remains poorly understood. To address this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine error-related responses in 37 individuals with schizophrenia and 32 healthy controls in regions identified in the basic science literature as being involved in error processing, and determined whether their activity was related to behavioral adjustments. Our imaging results support previous findings showing that regions outside the dACC are sensitive to error commission, and demonstrated that abnormalities in brain responses to errors among individuals with schizophrenia extend beyond the dACC to almost all of the regions involved in error-related processing in controls. However, error related responses in the dACC were most predictive of behavioral adjustments in both groups. Moreover, the integration of this network of regions differed between groups, with the cerebellar regions and the dACC less connected to the network in individuals with schizophrenia compared to controls. Our findings demonstrate a blunted response to error commission in the dACC that is associated with reduced error-related behavioral adjustments in individuals with schizophrenia. This result supports the hypothesis that a failure to respond appropriately to errors in individuals with schizophrenia is linked to alterations in dACC function leading to a compromise in the implementation of cognitive control. Our findings highlight the importance of examining brain activity related to the processing of error information and supporting error-related behavioral adjustments in terms of a distributed network.

SUBMITTER: Becerril KE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2997133 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Error processing network dynamics in schizophrenia.

Becerril Karla E KE Repovs Grega G Barch Deanna M DM

NeuroImage 20100929 2

Current theories of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia emphasize an impairment in the ability of individuals suffering from this disorder to monitor their own performance, and adjust their behavior to changing demands. Detecting an error in performance is a critical component of evaluative functions that allow the flexible adjustment of behavior to optimize outcomes. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) has been repeatedly implicated in error-detection and implementation of error-base ...[more]

PMID: 20883800

Similar Datasets

Project description:Impairments in social cognition and interactions are core psychopathologies in schizophrenia, often manifesting as an inability to appropriately relate to the intentions and feelings of others. Neuroimaging has helped to demarcate the dynamics of two distinct functional connectivity circuits underlying the social-affective processes related to mentalization (known as Theory of Mind, ToM) and somatic-affiliation (known as Embodied Simulation, ES). While evidence points to abnormal activation patterns within these networks among those suffering from schizophrenia, it is yet unclear however, if these patients exhibit this abnormal functional connectivity in the context of social-affective experiences. The current fMRI study, investigated functional connectivity dynamics within ToM and ES networks as subjects experienced evolving cinematic portrayals of fear. During scanning, schizophrenia patients and healthy controls passively watched a cinematic scene in which a mother and her son face various threatening events. Participants then provided a continuous and retrospective report of their fear intensity during a second viewing outside the scanner. Using network cohesion index (NCI) analysis, we examined modulations of ES-related and ToM-related functional connectivity dynamics and their relation to symptom severity and the continuous emotional ratings of the induced cinematic fear. Compared to patients, healthy controls showed higher ES-NCI and marginally lower ToM-NCI during emotional peaks. Cross-correlation analysis revealed an intriguing dynamic between NCI and the inter-group difference of reported fear. Schizophrenia patients rated their fear as lower relative to healthy controls, shortly after exhibiting lower ES connectivity. This increased difference in rating was also followed by higher ToM connectivity among schizophrenia patients. The clinical relevance of these findings is further highlighted by the following two results: (a) ToM-NCI was found to have a strong correlation with the severity of general symptoms during one of the two main emotional peaks (Spearman R?=?0.77); and (b) k-mean clustering demonstrated that the networks' NCI dynamic during the social-affective context reliably differentiated between patients and controls. Together, these findings point to a possible neural marker for abnormal social-affective processing in schizophrenia, manifested as the disturbed balance between two functional networks involved in social-affective affiliation. This in turn suggests that exaggerated mentalization over somatic-affiliative processing, in response to another's' distress may underlie social-affective deficits in schizophrenia.

Dataset Information

Error processing network dynamics in schizophrenia.

Publications

Error processing network dynamics in schizophrenia.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets