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An SJ, Choi S, Hwang JS, Park S, Jang M, Kim M, Kwon JS. Aberrant hyperfocusing in schizophrenia indicated by elevated theta phase-gamma amplitude coupling. Clin Neurophysiol 2024; 157:88-95. [PMID: 38064931 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate electroencephalographic (EEG) markers of aberrant hyperfocusing, a novel framework of impaired selective attention, in schizophrenia patients by using theta phase-gamma amplitude coupling (TGC). METHODS Fifty-four schizophrenia patients and 73 healthy controls (HCs) underwent EEG recording during an auditory oddball paradigm. For the standard and target conditions, TGC was calculated using the source signals from 25 brain regions of interest (ROIs) related to attention networks and sensory processing; TGC values were then compared across groups and conditions using two-way analysis of covariance. Correlations of altered TGC with performance on the Trail Making Test Parts A and B (TMT-A/B), were explored. RESULTS Compared to HCs, schizophrenia patients showed elevated TGC in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus in the standard condition but not in the target condition. Correlation analyses revealed that the TGC in the left IFG was positively correlated with the TMT-A/B completion times. CONCLUSIONS Aberrant hyperfocusing, as reflected by elevated TGC in attention-related brain regions, was related to behavioral performance on the TMT-A/B in schizophrenia patients. SIGNIFICANCE This study suggests that TGC is a electrophysiological marker for aberrant hyperfocusing of attentional processes that may result in cognitive impairments in schizophrenia patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su-Jin An
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunah Choi
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun Seo Hwang
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunghyun Park
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Moonyoung Jang
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Minah Kim
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jun Soo Kwon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, SNU-MRC, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Williams JC, Zheng ZJ, Tubiolo PN, Luceno JR, Gil RB, Girgis RR, Slifstein M, Abi-Dargham A, Van Snellenberg JX. Medial Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction Mediates Working Memory Deficits in Patients With Schizophrenia. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 3:990-1002. [PMID: 37881571 PMCID: PMC10593895 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Schizophrenia (SCZ) is marked by working memory (WM) deficits, which predict poor functional outcome. While most functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of WM in SCZ have focused on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), some recent work suggests that the medial PFC (mPFC) may play a role. We investigated whether task-evoked mPFC deactivation is associated with WM performance and whether it mediates deficits in SCZ. In addition, we investigated associations between mPFC deactivation and cortical dopamine release. Methods Patients with SCZ (n = 41) and healthy control participants (HCs) (n = 40) performed a visual object n-back task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Dopamine release capacity in mPFC was quantified with [11C]FLB457 in a subset of participants (9 SCZ, 14 HCs) using an amphetamine challenge. Correlations between task-evoked deactivation and performance were assessed in mPFC and dorsolateral PFC masks and were further examined for relationships with diagnosis and dopamine release. Results mPFC deactivation was associated with WM task performance, but dorsolateral PFC activation was not. Deactivation in the mPFC was reduced in patients with SCZ relative to HCs and mediated the relationship between diagnosis and WM performance. In addition, mPFC deactivation was significantly and inversely associated with dopamine release capacity across groups and in HCs alone, but not in patients. Conclusions Reduced WM task-evoked mPFC deactivation is a mediator of, and potential substrate for, WM impairment in SCZ, although our study design does not rule out the possibility that these findings could relate to cognition in general rather than WM specifically. We further present preliminary evidence of an inverse association between deactivation during WM tasks and dopamine release capacity in the mPFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- John C. Williams
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - Zu Jie Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - Philip N. Tubiolo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - Jacob R. Luceno
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - Roberto B. Gil
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
| | - Ragy R. Girgis
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
| | - Mark Slifstein
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
| | - Anissa Abi-Dargham
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
| | - Jared X. Van Snellenberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
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Zovetti N, Bellani M, Chowdury A, Alessandrini F, Zoccatelli G, Perlini C, Ricciardi GK, Marzi CA, Diwadkar VA, Brambilla P. Inefficient white matter activity in Schizophrenia evoked during intra and inter-hemispheric communication. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:449. [PMID: 36244980 PMCID: PMC9573867 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02200-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Intensive cognitive tasks induce inefficient regional and network responses in schizophrenia (SCZ). fMRI-based studies have naturally focused on gray matter, but appropriately titrated visuo-motor integration tasks reliably activate inter- and intra-hemispheric white matter pathways. Such tasks can assess network inefficiency without demanding intensive cognitive effort. Here, we provide the first application of this framework to the study of white matter functional responses in SCZ. Event-related fMRI data were acquired from 28 patients (nine females, mean age 43.3, ±11.7) and 28 age- and gender-comparable controls (nine females, mean age 42.1 ± 10.1), using the Poffenberger paradigm, a rapid visual detection task used to induce intra- (ipsi-lateral visual and motor cortex) or inter-hemispheric (contra-lateral visual and motor cortex) transfer. fMRI data were pre- and post-processed to reliably isolate activations in white matter, using probabilistic tractography-based white matter tracts. For intra- and inter-hemispheric transfer conditions, SCZ evinced hyper-activations in longitudinal and transverse white matter tracts, with hyper-activation in sub-regions of the corpus callosum primarily observed during inter-hemispheric transfer. Evidence for the functional inefficiency of white matter was observed in conjunction with small (~50 ms) but significant increases in response times. Functional inefficiencies in SCZ are (1) observable in white matter, with the degree of inefficiency contextually related to task-conditions, and (2) are evoked by simple detection tasks without intense cognitive processing. These cumulative results while expanding our understanding of this dys-connection syndrome, also extend the search of biomarkers beyond the traditional realm of fMRI studies of gray matter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niccolò Zovetti
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Marcella Bellani
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
| | - Asadur Chowdury
- grid.254444.70000 0001 1456 7807Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI USA
| | - Franco Alessandrini
- grid.411475.20000 0004 1756 948XNeuroradiology Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata di Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Giada Zoccatelli
- grid.411475.20000 0004 1756 948XNeuroradiology Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata di Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Cinzia Perlini
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Clinical Psychology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Giuseppe K. Ricciardi
- Pathology and Diagnostics, Section of Neuroradiology, Hospital Trust Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Carlo A. Marzi
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy ,National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
| | - Vaibhav A. Diwadkar
- grid.254444.70000 0001 1456 7807Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI USA
| | - Paolo Brambilla
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy. .,Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
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Abstract
Working memory (WM) refers to the ability to maintain a small number of representations in an activated, easily accessible state for a short period of time in the service of ongoing cognitive processing and behavior. Because WM is a resource critical for multiple forms of complex cognition and executive control of behavior, it is of central interest in the study of disorders such as schizophrenia that involve a broad compromise of cognitive function and in the regulation of goal-directed behavior. There is now robust evidence that WM impairment is characteristic of people with schizophrenia. The impairment includes both elementary storage capacity as well as more complex forms of WM that involve the manipulation and updating of WM representations. These impairments appear to underlie a substantial portion of the generalized cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. Neuroimaging studies have implicated widespread abnormalities in the broad neural system that subserves WM performance, consistent with the evidence of broad cognitive impairment seen in PSZ.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Gold
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Steven J Luck
- Center for Mind & Brain and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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Hahn B, Robinson BM, Kiat JE, Geng J, Bansal S, Luck SJ, Gold JM. Impaired Filtering and Hyperfocusing: Neural Evidence for Distinct Selective Attention Abnormalities in People with Schizophrenia. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1950-1964. [PMID: 34546344 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Although schizophrenia is classically thought to involve impaired attentional filtering, people with schizophrenia (PSZ) exhibit a more intense and more exclusive attentional focus than healthy control subjects (HCS) in many tasks. To resolve this contradiction, this functional magnetic resonance imaging study tested the impact of attentional control demands on the modulation of stimulus-induced activation in the fusiform face area and parahippocampal place area when participants (43 PSZ and 43 HCS) were looking for a target face versus house. Stimuli were presented individually, or as face-house overlays that challenged attentional control. Responses were slower for house than face stimuli and when prioritizing houses over faces in overlays, suggesting a difference in salience. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity reflected poorer attentional selectivity in PSZ than HCS when attentional control was challenged most, that is, when stimuli were overlaid and the task required detecting the lower-salience house target. By contrast, attentional selectivity was exaggerated in PSZ when control was challenged least, that is, when stimuli were presented sequentially and the task required detecting the higher-salience face target. These findings are consistent with 2 distinct attentional abnormalities in schizophrenia leading to impaired and exaggerated selection under different conditions: attentional control deficits, and hyperfocusing once attention has been directed toward a stimulus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta Hahn
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - Benjamin M Robinson
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - John E Kiat
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Joy Geng
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Sonia Bansal
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
| | - Steven J Luck
- University of California Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - James M Gold
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21228, USA
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