Association of fronto-temporal function with cognitive ability in schizophrenia

Abstract

Deficits in neuropsychological performance are common in schizophrenia, but their relationship with the fronto-temporal functional abnormalities associated with this condition remains unclear. We explored the relationship between neuropsychological performance as measured using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) and the Social Cognition Screening Questionnaire theory of mind (ToM) subscale and fronto-temporal function in 23 patients with schizophrenia and 23 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs), using 52-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Regional hemodynamic changes were significantly smaller in the schizophrenia group than in the HCs group in the ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior part of the temporal cortex (VLPFC/aTC) and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar cortex (DLPFC/FPC) regions. To dissect the effect of variance in BACS cognitive domains from the relationship between ToM function and fronto-temporal function, we performed additional partial correlation analyses between ToM and NIRS data, using BACS composite score as a control variable. The correlation between ToM and NIRS data remained significant only in the DLPFC/FPC region. This finding is important to models of recovery, as it suggests that intervention programs focusing on enhancing fronto-temporal function may have a greater impact on social and occupational outcomes than traditional rehabilitation programs focusing on neuropsychological performance.

Association between social functioning and prefrontal cortex function during a verbal fluency task in schizophrenia: A near‐infrared spectroscopic study

“…In a previous study, we analyzed the regional activation associated with cognitive tasks in three brain regions of interest (ROI) defined by Takizawa et al …”

“…The NIRS signal from Region 1 consisted of the signals from the channels located approximately in the bilateral DLPFC and FPC. The NIRS signal from Region 2 consisted of signals from the channels located approximately in the bilateral VLPFC and the anterior part of the temporal cortex (aTC) …”

“…In a previous study, we analyzed the regional activation associated with cognitive tasks in three brain regions of interest (ROI) defined by Takizawa et al 38,46,47 In this study, we had 52 NIRS channels. Region 1 was defined as channels 25-28, 36-38, and 46-49.…”

“…The NIRS signal from Region 2 consisted of signals from the channels located approximately in the bilateral VLPFC and the anterior part of the temporal cortex (aTC). 38,46…”

Different Whole-Brain Functional Connectivity Correlates of Reactive-Proactive Aggression and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Disruptive Children and Adolescents

“…Disruptive children and adolescents showed CU subdimension-specific seed-based rsFC including clusters in central gyrus and precuneus (Werhahn et al , 2018). Other studies reported CU-related rsFC alterations in the DMN (Cohn et al , 2015; Pu et al , 2017; Thijssen and Kiehl, 2017) along with further frontal, temporal, parietal, and cerebellar areas (Espinoza et al , 2018). Only one study in adults addressed anxiety symptoms and reported an interaction effect with psychopathy levels (Motzkin et al , 2011), despite their prominent behavioral and psychophysiological effects (Fanti, Demetriou and Kimonis, 2013; Guelker et al , 2014; Dadds et al , 2017).…”