Influence of Vigilance and Learning on Prefrontal Activation in Schizophrenia

Background: Executive functions, which are neuroanatomically associated with the frontal lobe, are known to be impaired in schizophrenia. It is, however, still unclear whether the underlying functional disturbance is due to a hyper- or a hypoactivation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or neither. Methods: To address this question, we examined the brain activation of 21 schizophrenic patients on atypical antipsychotic medication and 21 healthy control subjects during a mental maze task by means of fMRI. Results: We found no significant overall difference in cerebral activation between the groups, but differences in the change in DLPFC activation from the first to the second half of the experiment. In the maze compared to the control task, there was a decrease in activation in the DLPFC in the patients and an almost significant increase in the controls. The change in activation in the patient group correlated with a change in subjective sleepiness, while the increase in activation in the controls could be attributed to learning processes. Conclusion: We hypothesized that differential temporal influences on brain activation could lead to either hyper- or hypoactivation of the DLPFC in schizophrenia.

[1]  George Mendelson,et al.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) , 2009 .

[2]  B. Gallhofer,et al.  Brain Activation during Mental Maze Solving , 2006, Neuropsychobiology.

[3]  Heinrich Sauer,et al.  Temporal changes in neural activation during practice of information retrieval from short-term memory: An fMRI study , 2006, Brain Research.

[4]  J. Gold,et al.  One-year double-blind study of the neurocognitive efficacy of olanzapine, risperidone, and haloperidol in schizophrenia , 2006, Schizophrenia Research.

[5]  R. Thomas.  Fatigue in the executive cortical network demonstrated in narcoleptics using functional magnetic resonance imaging--a preliminary study. , 2005, Sleep medicine.

[6]  H. Silver,et al.  Evidence for sustained attention and working memory in schizophrenia sharing a common mechanism. , 2005, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

[7]  Russell A. Poldrack,et al.  The effect of working memory performance on functional MRI in schizophrenia , 2005, Schizophrenia Research.

[8]  Stephen M Smith,et al.  Variability in fMRI: A re‐examination of inter‐session differences , 2005, Human brain mapping.

[9]  Mark D'Esposito,et al.  A functional MRI study of the influence of practice on component processes of working memory , 2004, NeuroImage.

[10]  M. Egan,et al.  Complexity of prefrontal cortical dysfunction in schizophrenia: more than up or down. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[11]  E T Bullmore,et al.  The functional neuroanatomy of schizophrenic subsyndromes , 2003, Psychological Medicine.

[12]  D. Manoach.  Prefrontal cortex dysfunction during working memory performance in schizophrenia: reconciling discrepant findings , 2003, Schizophrenia Research.

[13]  K. Davis,et al.  A one-year double-blind comparison of the neurocognitive efficacy of olanzapine, risperidone, and haloperidol in patients with schizophrenia , 2003, Schizophrenia Research.

[14]  Javier Quintana,et al.  Prefrontal–posterior parietal networks in schizophrenia: primary dysfunctions and secondary compensations , 2003, Biological Psychiatry.

[15]  E. Bullmore,et al.  Procedural learning in schizophrenia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation , 2002, Schizophrenia Research.

[16]  Edward T Bullmore,et al.  De-coupling of cognitive performance and cerebral functional response during working memory in schizophrenia. , 2002, Schizophrenia Research.

[17]  B. Gallhofer,et al.  Cognitive subprocesses and schizophrenia. B. Maze tasks , 2001, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum.

[18]  Nick F. Ramsey,et al.  Functional Anatomical Correlates of Controlled and Automatic Processing , 2001, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[19]  R. Coppola,et al.  Physiological dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia revisited. , 2000, Cerebral cortex.

[20]  S. Rauch,et al.  Schizophrenic subjects show aberrant fMRI activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia during working memory performance , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[21]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Variability in fMRI: An Examination of Intersession Differences , 2000, NeuroImage.

[22]  K. Wolf,et al.  Differential sustained attention/vigilance changes over time in schizophrenics and controls during a degraded stimulus Continuous Performance Test , 2000, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[23]  Konstantine K. Zakzanis,et al.  Neurocognitive Deficit in Schizophrenia: A Quantitative Review of the Evidence , 1998 .

[24]  Daniel R. Weinberger,et al.  Changing patterns of brain activation during maze learning , 1998, Brain Research.

[25]  R. Coppola,et al.  Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Brain Mapping in Psychiatry: Methodological Issues Illustrated in a Study of Working Memory in Schizophrenia , 1998, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[26]  S. Petersen,et al.  The effects of practice on the functional anatomy of task performance. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[27]  R. Heinrichs,et al.  Neurocognitive deficit in schizophrenia: a quantitative review of the evidence. , 1998, Neuropsychology.

[28]  B. Rund,et al.  A review of longitudinal studies of cognitive functions in schizophrenia patients. , 1998, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[29]  M. Green,et al.  Procedural learning in schizophrenia: evidence from serial reaction time. , 1997, Cognitive neuropsychiatry.

[30]  B. Gallhofer,et al.  Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: comparison of treatment with atypical antipsychotic agents and conventional neuroleptic drugs , 1996, European Neuropsychopharmacology.

[31]  N C Andreasen,et al.  Hypofrontality in neuroleptic-naive patients and in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Assessment with xenon 133 single-photon emission computed tomography and the Tower of London. , 1992, Archives of general psychiatry.

[32]  Sohee Park,et al.  Schizophrenics show spatial working memory deficits. , 1992, Archives of general psychiatry.

[33]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Patterns of Cerebral Blood Flow in Schizophrenia , 1992, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[34]  S. Kay,et al.  The positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. , 1987, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[35]  D. Weinberger,et al.  Physiologic dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. I. Regional cerebral blood flow evidence. , 1986, Archives of general psychiatry.

[36]  W. Dement,et al.  Quantification of sleepiness: a new approach. , 1973, Psychophysiology.

[37]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[38]  H. Carr,et al.  Human reactions in a maze. , 1912 .