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Updated: Jun 8, 2026
13:08
Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
Executive functioning-related brain abnormalities associated with the genetic liability for schizophrenia: an
1Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. vina.m.goghari@ucalgary.ca
Psychological Medicine
|October 15, 2010
Summary
Relatives of schizophrenia patients show consistent brain activity differences in the middle frontal region during executive tasks. These findings may help identify genetic vulnerabilities for schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
Background:
- Schizophrenia patients' relatives often exhibit altered prefrontal cortical activation during executive tasks.
- Previous functional neuroimaging studies showed inconsistent findings regarding these brain abnormalities.
- A meta-analysis was needed to identify reliable patterns of hypo- and hyperactivity in relatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine consistent patterns of brain hypo- and hyperactivity in relatives of schizophrenia patients.
- To investigate abnormalities specifically in the middle frontal region.
- To assess the impact of region-of-interest (ROI) analyses on meta-analysis results.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a meta-analysis of 17 studies comparing relatives of schizophrenia patients with controls.
- Included studies using executive processing tasks and reporting functional activation coordinates.
- Utilized Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to synthesize neuroimaging data.
Main Results:
- Relatives showed both hypo- and hyperactivity in overlapping right middle frontal regions (Brodmann area 9/10).
- Region-of-interest analyses focusing on prefrontal regions yielded more consistent findings of reduced middle frontal activity.
Conclusions:
- Identified cortical regions may serve as intermediate biological markers for schizophrenia candidate genes.
- Understanding neural and genetic vulnerabilities is crucial for addressing neurocognitive and functional deficits in schizophrenia.
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