Abstract
The present study sought to identify abnormalities in activation in several brain regions in response to an auditory attention task in patients with schizophrenia. Ten patients and twenty healthy control participants were examined using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) measures acquired during an auditory attention task. Region of interest analyses of activation of targeted regions implicated in attention included: anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), and superior temporal gyrus (STG). The results indicated over-activation in patients with schizophrenia. While the control group showed notable coherence in activation within and across hemispheres the schizophrenia group showed relatively less coherence overall that was only present in the right hemisphere. These findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia show both an over-engagement of brain regions during attention task as well as a lack of communication among neural regions involved.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 25-32 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2009 |
Funding
This research was conducted as part of Todd N. Schirmer's doctoral dissertation in psychology at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Special thanks go to Drs. Stephen Rao and Robert Risinger for their role in recruiting participants and overseeing data collection, and Drs. Michael Seidenberg, John Woodard, Sarah Keedy, and Jasmin Vassileva for offering critical review and feedback. Dr. Roland Erwin deserves special mention for graciously providing the archival data on which the present analysis is based and for serving as a mentor to Dr. Schirmer throughout graduate school. Funding for the study was provided by a NARSAD independent investigator award to Dr. Erwin.
Keywords
- Attention
- Auditory
- FMRI
- Frontal lobe
- Over-activation
- Temporal lobe
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biological Psychiatry
- Pharmacology