Dysfunctional Activation of the Cerebellum in Schizophrenia: A Functional Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis

The cognitive dysmetria framework postulates that the deficits seen in schizophrenia are due to underlying cerebello-thalamo-cortical dysfunction. The cerebellum is thought to be crucial in the formation of internal models for both motor and cognitive behaviors. In healthy individuals there is a functional topography within the cerebellum. Alterations in the functional topography and activation of the cerebellum in schizophrenia patients may be indicative of altered internal models, providing support for this framework. Using state-of-the-art neuroimaging meta-analysis, we investigated cerebellar activation across a variety of task domains affected in schizophrenia and in comparison to healthy controls. Our results indicate an altered functional topography in patients. This was especially apparent for emotion and working memory tasks, and may be related to deficits in these domains. Results suggest that an altered cerebellar functional topography in schizophrenia may be contributing to the many deficits associated with the disease, perhaps due to dysfunctional internal models.