Data-Driven Analysis of Functional Connectivity Reveals a Potential Auditory Verbal Hallucination Network

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Schizophrenia is a major global health issue, with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) affecting over half of patients.
• Understanding the neural basis of AVHs is crucial for developing targeted treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify neural connectivity differences between schizophrenia patients with and without AVHs compared to healthy controls.
• To investigate the role of functional connectivity and its lateralization in AVHs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized voxel-based intrinsic connectivity distribution (ICD) and cross-hemisphere ICD to analyze functional connectivity in 46 patients and 20 controls.
• Employed Weibull distribution to model voxel connectivity and assessed connectivity lateralization.

Main Results:

• Patients with AVHs showed decreased connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex compared to those without AVHs.
• Altered connectivity lateralization was observed in the left putamen (less lateralized) and left inferior frontal gyrus (more lateralized) in patients with AVHs.
• A 25-node network, overlapping with default mode and language networks, was identified as potentially associated with AVHs.

Conclusions:

• The identified AVH network, rather than individual nodes, may serve as a promising target for therapeutic interventions.
• Functional connectivity patterns, especially within specific brain regions and their lateralization, are key to understanding AVHs in schizophrenia.