Language processing and human voice perception in schizophrenia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Schizophrenia is linked to altered brain lateralization, particularly in language processing.
• Previous research suggests right-lateralized temporal activation for human voice perception.
• Limited studies have explored voice perception deficits in schizophrenia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cerebral function in schizophrenia during language processing and human voice perception.
• To clarify the neural basis of auditory processing in schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Main Methods:

• fMRI scans were conducted on 14 schizophrenia patients and 14 controls.
• Participants listened to sentences (SEN), reverse sentences (rSEN), and non-vocal sounds (SND).
• Analyses focused on activation differences between conditions and groups.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenia patients showed reduced left-hemisphere activation in language-related regions (fronto-tempo-parietal, hippocampus, thalamus, cingulate gyrus) compared to controls.
• Patients also exhibited less activation in right-lateralized temporal cortices and bilateral posterior cingulate during voice perception tasks.
• These differences were observed under contrasts involving language processing and voice perception.

Conclusions:

• Schizophrenia patients demonstrate impaired activation in bilateral cortical-subcortical regions.
• Findings indicate deficits in both the left-hemisphere semantic network and the right-hemisphere voice-specific network.
• This suggests widespread neural network dysfunction in schizophrenia affecting auditory processing.