[Neuroimaging studies of social cognition in schizophrenia]

In various social situations, individuals with schizophrenia often have difficulties in keeping appropriate relationships with others. To elucidate the neural basis of such difficulties, we explored associations between brain morphological alterations and dysfunction of social cognition in schizophrenia, using MRI. Several important findings have been yielded: For instance, amygdala volume reduction was correlated with impaired facial emotion recognition ability, while reductions in the medial prefrontal cortex was correlated with impairment in emotion attribution to protagonists in social situations. These results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia have various domains of impaired social cognition. Moreover, in schizophrenia, the brain regions involved in such impairments might differ according to the domains of social cognition.