Negative symptoms play an important role in development and treatment of schizophrenia. However, brain changes relevant to negative symptoms are still unclear. This study examined brain structural abnormalities and their asymmetry in schizophrenia patients and the association with negative symptoms. Fifty-nine schizophrenia patients and 66 healthy controls undertook structural brain scans. Schizophrenia patients were further divided into predominant negative symptoms (PNS, n = 18) and non-PNS (n = 34) subgroups. Negative symptoms were assessed by the Negative Symptom Assessment (NSA). T1-weighted images were preprocessed with FreeSurfer to estimate subcortical volumes, cortical thickness and surface areas, asymmetry Index (AI) was then calculated. MANOVA was performed for group differences while partial correlations in patients were analyzed between altered brain structures and negative symptoms. Compared to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited thinner cortices in frontal and temporal regions, and decreased leftward asymmetry of superior temporal gyrus (STG) in cortical thickness. Patients with PNS exhibited increased rightward asymmetry of amygdala volumes than non-PNS subgroup. In patients, AI of cortical thickness in the STG was negatively correlated with NSA-Emotion scores (r = −0.30, p = 0.035), while AI of amygdala volume was negatively correlated with NSA-Communication (r = −0.30, p = 0.039) and NSA-Total scores (r = −0.30, p = 0.038). Our findings suggested schizophrenia patients exhibited cortical thinning and altered lateralization of brain structures. Emotion and communication dimensions of negative symptoms also correlated with the structural asymmetry of amygdala and superior temporal regions in schizophrenia patients.

This study examined the correlations of affective and cognitive components of empathy with reward anticipation toward monetary and social incentives in individuals with social anhedonia (SocAnh). According to the scores on the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale, 109 participants were divided into high (n = 57) and low (n = 52) SocAnh groups. Empathy was assessed with the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) Scale. Social and non‐social reward anticipations were assessed by the Social and Monetary Incentive Delay Tasks, respectively. We performed independent‐sample t tests and repeated‐measures ANOVAs to examine the group differences on empathy and reward anticipation. Correlation analyses between empathy and reward anticipation were conducted. Results showed that the high SocAnh group reported reduced scores on empathy and reward anticipation for monetary and social incentives compared to their low SocAnh counterparts. Correlation analysis further indicated that monetary reward anticipation correlated with cognitive empathy, while social reward anticipation correlated with affective empathy. Our findings suggested that participants with high SocAnh exhibited poorer empathy and reduced reward anticipation than those with low SocAnh level. More importantly, social and non‐social reward anticipation may distinctly contribute to affective and cognitive components of empathy.