PURPOSE: People with eating disorders (EDs) have difficulties understanding their own emotions and recognizing the emotions of others, especially in ambiguous settings. We examined the neuronal mechanisms underlying the emotion processing of ambiguous interpersonal stimuli in EDs and healthy controls (HCs). METHODS: The fMRI data were acquired by a blocked experimental design with 28 women (14 EDs) during the visual presentation of a modified Thematic Apperception Test. RESULTS: EDs showed very strong associations between experienced and inferred emotions evoked by the stimuli; no such relationship was found in HCs. HCs displayed elevated left anterior insula activity during the mentalizing condition; EDs showed increased activity in the right supramarginal gyrus and medial prefrontal cortex. CONCLUSION: The two groups seem to apply different strategies for judging emotionally ambiguous stimuli, albeit resulting in equivalent judgments. We assume that activity in the supramarginal gyrus and insula in EDs is linked with suppressing their own perspective while considering emotional states, probably due to alexithymia and the lack of awareness of their own mental states. We hypothesize that the strong correlation between experienced and inferred emotions in EDs could reflect their tendency to use others as a reference point for perceiving themselves and gaining information about their affective state. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: No level of evidence, this is a basic science study.
Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) often demonstrate impairment in social-cognitive functions as well as disturbances in large-scale network connectivity. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a core region of the default mode network, with projections to limbic structures. It plays an important role in social and emotional decision-making. We investigated whether resting-state functional connectivity (FC) relates to the cognitive and affective domains of theory of mind (ToM). Twenty-three SCH patients and 19 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. vmPFC seed connectivity was correlated with behavioral measures assessing ToM domains. SCH performed less well than HCs in both ToM task domains. An analysis of the resting-state FC revealed that SCH had reduced connectivity from the vmPFC to the subcallosal cortex, right amygdala, and right hippocampus as a function of behavioral scores in both ToM domains. Within-group analyses indicated that in HCs, the performance in ToM was positively associated with frontoamygdalar resting-state connectivity, whereas in SCH, the performance in ToM was negatively associated with the frontosubcallosal connectivity. Differences in the pattern of the resting-state frontolimbic connectivity and its associations with performance in ToM tasks between the two study groups might represent a different setup for processing social information in patients with SCH.
- MeSH
- čelní lalok diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- emoce MeSH
- kognitivní poruchy etiologie MeSH
- kyslík krev MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- limbický systém diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
- mapování mozku * MeSH
- nervové dráhy diagnostické zobrazování patofyziologie MeSH
- neuropsychologické testy MeSH
- odpočinek MeSH
- počítačové zpracování obrazu MeSH
- rozpoznávání (psychologie) MeSH
- schizofrenie komplikace diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- sociální chování MeSH
- teorie mysli fyziologie MeSH
- zpráva o sobě MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Movement sequencing difficulties are part of the neurological soft signs (NSS), they have high clinical value because they are not always present in schizophrenia. We investigated the neuronal correlates of movement sequencing in 24 healthy controls and 24 schizophrenia patients, with (SZP SQ+) or without (SZP SQ-) sequencing difficulties. We characterized simultaneous and lagged functional connectivity between brain regions involved in movement sequencing using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) and the Granger causality modeling (GCM), respectively. Left premotor cortex (PMC) and superior parietal lobule (SPL) were specifically activated during sequential movements in all participants. Right PMC and precuneus, ipsilateral to the hand executing the task, activated during sequential movements only in healthy controls and SZP SQ-. SZP SQ+ showed hyperactivation in contralateral PMC, as compared to the other groups. PPI analysis revealed a deficit in inhibitory connections within this fronto-parietal network in SZP SQ+ during sequential task. GCM showed a significant lagged effective connectivity from right PMC to left SPL during task and rest periods in all groups and from right PMC to right precuneus in SZP SQ+ group only. Both SZP groups had a significant lagged connectivity from right to left PMC, during sequential task. Our results indicate that aberrant fronto-parietal network connectivity with cortical inhibition deficit and abnormal reliance on previous network activity are related to movement sequencing in SZP. The overactivation of motor cortex seems to be a good compensating strategy, the hyperactivation of parietal cortex is linked to motor deficit symptoms.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- funkční lateralita MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- lineární modely MeSH
- magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
- mapování mozku * MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mozek MeSH
- nervové dráhy MeSH
- počítačové zpracování obrazu MeSH
- pohybové poruchy etiologie patologie MeSH
- progrese nemoci MeSH
- psychomotorický výkon fyziologie MeSH
- psychosomatické poruchy etiologie MeSH
- schizofrenie komplikace MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
