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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

DTI of the Visual Pathway - White Matter Tracts and Cerebral Lesions
Published on: August 26, 2014
Formal thought disorder is related to aberrations in language-related white matter tracts in patients with
Marialuisa Cavelti1, Stephanie Winkelbeiner2, Andrea Federspiel2
1Translational Research Center, University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern 60 3000 Switzerland; Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health & Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
Abstract:
This study examined the hypothesis that a fronto-temporal disconnection in the language network underpins formal thought disorder (FTD) in schizophrenia. Forty-nine patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (27 with mild FTD, 22 with severe FTD) and 26 healthy controls (HC) were included. Overall psychopathology and FTD were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Thought, Language, and Communication scale, respectively. White matter (WM) microstructure was analysed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics. In patients, severity of overall FTD (TLC Sum Score) was predicted by decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), and severity of negative FTD (TLC Emptiness subscale) was predicted by increased FA in the left SLF and arcuate fasciculus (AF). Notably, these results were no longer significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Compared with HC, patients showed lower FA in all the investigated language-related WM tracts as well as across the whole WM skeleton. No difference in FA was found between patients with severe and patients with mild FTD. Our results are compatible with earlier studies reporting impairments in widely spread WM tracts including those related to language processing in patients with schizophrenia.
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