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Functional and structural deficits in brain regions subserving face perception in schizophrenia
Toshiaki Onitsuka1, Margaret A Niznikiewicz, Kevin M Spencer
1Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Division, Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA 02301, USA.
The American Journal of Psychiatry
|March 4, 2006
Summary
Patients with schizophrenia exhibit impaired face perception, showing reduced neural activity and smaller fusiform gyrus volumes compared to healthy individuals. This suggests anatomical deficits in the fusiform gyrus underlie face processing abnormalities in schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Schizophrenia significantly impacts cognitive functions, particularly face perception, which is crucial for social interactions.
- Deficits in recognizing familiar and unfamiliar faces can hinder social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare neural network activation during face processing between schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects.
- To investigate the relationship between functional abnormalities in face perception and anatomical variations in the fusiform gyrus.
Main Methods:
- High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to assess brain structure in 20 male chronic schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy controls.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the N170 component, were recorded in response to visual stimuli including faces, cars, and hands.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients displayed reduced bilateral N170 amplitudes for faces compared to controls, indicating impaired early-stage face perception.
- Patients with schizophrenia had smaller gray matter volumes in bilateral anterior and posterior fusiform gyri.
- A significant correlation was found between right posterior fusiform gyrus volume and N170 amplitude in schizophrenia patients.
Conclusions:
- Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in the early stages of face perception.
- Reduced fusiform gyrus volume in schizophrenia patients suggests this anatomical region is implicated in face processing impairments.
- The findings highlight a defective anatomical substrate within the fusiform gyrus contributing to face perception deficits in schizophrenia.