Impaired Coupling between the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex and the Amygdala in Schizophrenia Smokers Viewing Anti-smoking Images

Abstract

BackgroundCigarette smoking is highly prevalent in schizophrenia and is one of the main factors contributing to the significantly decreased life expectancy in this population. Schizophrenia smokers, compared to their counterparts with no comorbid psychiatric disorder, are largely unaware and indifferent to the long-term negative consequences of cigarette smoking. The objective of this study was to determine, for the first time, if these meta-cognitive deficits are associated with neuro-functional alterations in schizophrenia smokers.MethodsTwenty-four smokers with no psychiatric disorder and 21 smokers with schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging and exposed to anti-smoking images. Granger causality analyses were used to examine the effective connectivity between brain regions found to be significantly activated.ResultsAcross groups, potent activations were observed in the left ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, the left amygdala (AMG), and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Using the dmPFC as a seed region, we found an abnormal negative connectivity from the dmPFC to the AMG in schizophrenia smokers during the viewing of anti-smoking stimuli. This abnormal connectivity was not present during the viewing of aversive stimuli unrelated to tobacco.DiscussionGiven the well-established roles of the dmPFC in social cognition and of the AMG in emotional processing, our results suggest that the relative indifference of schizophrenia smokers regarding the negative consequences of tobacco smoking could be explained by a cognitive-affective dissonance.

Increasing the Difference in Decision Making for Oneself and for Others by Stimulating the Right Temporoparietal Junction

“…Jung et al (2013) reported that right amygdala activation was positively correlated with individuals’ probability of choosing high-value items for themselves, while the activity of the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) was positively correlated with the probability of choosing high-value items for strangers. In addition, further analysis found a stronger functional connectivity between the rTPJ and the left DMPFC in decision making for others than that for oneself (Jung et al, 2013), while amygdala activation could be regulated by the DMPFC through the functional connectivity between these two brain areas (Banks et al, 2007; Phillips et al, 2008; Leiberg et al, 2011; Potvin et al, 2017). Brain imaging studies of risky decision making have found that the amygdala is not only sensitive to potential loss in decision making but also closely related to loss aversion (Bechara et al, 1999; De Martino et al, 2010; Sokolhessner et al, 2013; Phelps et al, 2014).…”