Violent Behavior Is Associated With Emotion Salience Network Dysconnectivity in Schizophrenia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Individuals with schizophrenia have an elevated risk of violence.
• Neurobiological underpinnings of violence in schizophrenia, particularly functional connectivity during emotional processing, remain underexplored.
• Existing research lacks clarity on functional connectivity deficits specific to emotional states linked to violence in schizophrenia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate disrupted functional connectivity in men with schizophrenia and a history of violence (SCZ+V) compared to those without (SCZ-V) and healthy controls.
• To examine brain network alterations during negative emotion processing using fMRI.
• To identify specific connectivity patterns associated with violent behavior in schizophrenia.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan participants.
• Participants included 20 SCZ+V men, 19 SCZ-V men, and 21 healthy male controls.
• Scans were conducted while participants viewed negative emotional images.

Main Results:

• SCZ+V men exhibited increased connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and bilateral rostral prefrontal cortex (rPFC) when viewing negative images.
• A decreased functional connectivity was observed between frontal regions (rPFC, dACC) and the putamen and hippocampus in SCZ+V men.
• The centrality of the dACC within the brain network was reduced in SCZ+V subjects.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest inefficient information integration by the dACC between frontal and limbic regions in SCZ+V men during negative emotion processing.
• The study highlights the significant role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the neurobiological basis of violent behavior in schizophrenia.
• Altered functional connectivity patterns may represent a neural correlate of violent tendencies in individuals with schizophrenia.