Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026
10:33
Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2012
Color Stroop and negative priming in schizophrenia: an fMRI study
Lida Ungar1, Paul G Nestor, Margaret A Niznikiewicz
1Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1249 Boylston Street-3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Psychiatry Research
|December 8, 2009
Summary
Schizophrenia patients struggle with selective attention, showing altered brain activity in frontal and parietal regions during cognitive tasks. This suggests impaired neural networks vital for attention control in schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Selective attention deficits are a hallmark of schizophrenia.
- The precise neural mechanisms underlying these attention disturbances remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural basis of selective attention impairments in schizophrenia.
- To compare brain activation patterns between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls during a selective attention task.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activation.
- 15 patients with schizophrenia and 15 age-matched controls performed the color Stroop negative priming task.
- Performance was assessed based on the Stroop effect and negative priming effect.
Main Results:
- Controls exhibited both Stroop and negative priming effects, whereas patients with schizophrenia only showed the Stroop effect.
- fMRI revealed distinct activation patterns: controls showed frontal activation for the Stroop effect, while patients showed parietal activation.
- Both groups activated right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during negative priming, but patients also activated left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Conclusions:
- Schizophrenia is associated with altered brain activation in networks crucial for selective attention.
- Patients with schizophrenia may have faulty interactions within these neural networks, leading to attention deficits.
