PET Imaging and Cognition in Schizophrenia

The patterns of cerebral blood flow associated with three syndromes of schizophrenic symptoms are compared with the loci of cerebral activation in normal subjects during the performance of mental processes implicated in the three syndromes. The psychomotor poverty syndrome, which has been shown to involve a diminished ability to generate words, is associated with decreased perfusion of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at a locus which is activated in normal subjects during the internal generation of words. The disorganization syndrome, which has been shown to involve impaired suppression of inappropriate responses (eg in the Stroop test), is associated with increased perfusion of the right anterior cingulate gyrus at a location activated in normal subjects performing the Stroop test. The reality distortion syndrome, which evidence suggests arises from disordered internal monitoring of activity, is associated with increased perfusion in the medial temporal lobe at a locus activated in normal subjects during the internal monitoring of eye movements.