Context-dependent dynamic functional connectivity alteration of lateral occipital cortex in schizophrenia
Kaiming Li1, John A Sweeney2, Xiaoping P Hu1
1Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
Schizophrenia Research
|March 24, 2020
Summary
Schizophrenia patients show unstable brain network connections involving the lateral occipital cortex (LOC). This instability correlates with cognitive difficulties and symptom severity, suggesting a key role in visual perception dysfunction.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Schizophrenia is linked to visual perception deficits.
- The lateral occipital cortex (LOC) is crucial for object recognition.
- Previous studies show structural and functional LOC abnormalities in schizophrenia, but its dynamic network interactions are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal interactions of the LOC with other brain networks in schizophrenia patients.
- To examine how these interactions differ between resting states and task-switching conditions.
- To correlate LOC connectivity instability with cognitive performance and symptom severity.
Main Methods:
- Functional connectivity analysis of brain networks over time.
- Examination of spatial-temporal interaction patterns of the LOC.
- Comparison between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls under resting and task-switching conditions.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibited increased temporal instability in LOC connectivity during both rest and task switching.
- During rest, LOC showed greater interaction with the frontoparietal task-control network (FPTC) and thalamus in patients compared to controls.
- During task switching, LOC interacted more with the default mode network (DMN) in patients.
- LOC connectivity instability correlated positively with task switching costs and hallucination severity.
Conclusions:
- Reduced temporal stability of LOC connectivity is a significant finding in schizophrenia.
- This instability may underlie neurocognitive dysfunctions, particularly in visual perception.
- Dynamic connectivity changes in LOC are associated with clinical symptom severity in schizophrenia.
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