Abstract
Previous studies have reported abnormal prefrontal and cingulate activity during attentional control processing in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear how variation in attentional control load modulates activity within these brain regions in this brain disorder. The aim of this study in schizophrenia is to investigate the impact of increasing levels of attentional control processing on prefrontal and cingulate activity. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses of 16 outpatients with schizophrenia were compared with those of 21 healthy subjects while performing a task eliciting increasing levels of attentional control during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T. Results showed reduced behavioral performance in patients at greater attentional control levels. Imaging data indicated greater prefrontal activity at intermediate attentional control levels in patients but greater prefrontal and cingulate responses at high attentional control demands in controls. The BOLD activity profile of these regions in controls increased linearly with increasing cognitive loads, whereas in patients, it was nonlinear. Correlation analysis consistently showed differential region and load-specific relationships between brain activity and behavior in the 2 groups. These results indicate that varying attentional control load is associated in schizophrenia with load- and region-specific modification of the relationship between behavior and brain activity, possibly suggesting earlier saturation of cognitive capacity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 837-845 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Cerebral Cortex |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2010 |
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Keywords
- Attention
- Cognitive load
- fMRI
- Parametric design
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Cite this
Nonlinear response of the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in Schizophrenia as a function of variable attentional control. / Blasi, Giuseppe; Taurisano, Paolo; Papazacharias, Apostolos; Caforio, Grazia; Romano, Raffaella; Lobianco, Luciana; Fazio, Leonardo; Di Giorgio, Annabella; Latorre, Valeria; Sambataro, Fabio; Popolizio, Teresa; Nardini, Marcello; Mattay, Venkata S.; Weinberger, Daniel R.; Bertolino, Alessandro.
In: Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 20, No. 4, 04.2010, p. 837-845.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonlinear response of the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in Schizophrenia as a function of variable attentional control
AU - Blasi, Giuseppe
AU - Taurisano, Paolo
AU - Papazacharias, Apostolos
AU - Caforio, Grazia
AU - Romano, Raffaella
AU - Lobianco, Luciana
AU - Fazio, Leonardo
AU - Di Giorgio, Annabella
AU - Latorre, Valeria
AU - Sambataro, Fabio
AU - Popolizio, Teresa
AU - Nardini, Marcello
AU - Mattay, Venkata S.
AU - Weinberger, Daniel R.
AU - Bertolino, Alessandro
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - Previous studies have reported abnormal prefrontal and cingulate activity during attentional control processing in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear how variation in attentional control load modulates activity within these brain regions in this brain disorder. The aim of this study in schizophrenia is to investigate the impact of increasing levels of attentional control processing on prefrontal and cingulate activity. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses of 16 outpatients with schizophrenia were compared with those of 21 healthy subjects while performing a task eliciting increasing levels of attentional control during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T. Results showed reduced behavioral performance in patients at greater attentional control levels. Imaging data indicated greater prefrontal activity at intermediate attentional control levels in patients but greater prefrontal and cingulate responses at high attentional control demands in controls. The BOLD activity profile of these regions in controls increased linearly with increasing cognitive loads, whereas in patients, it was nonlinear. Correlation analysis consistently showed differential region and load-specific relationships between brain activity and behavior in the 2 groups. These results indicate that varying attentional control load is associated in schizophrenia with load- and region-specific modification of the relationship between behavior and brain activity, possibly suggesting earlier saturation of cognitive capacity.
AB - Previous studies have reported abnormal prefrontal and cingulate activity during attentional control processing in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear how variation in attentional control load modulates activity within these brain regions in this brain disorder. The aim of this study in schizophrenia is to investigate the impact of increasing levels of attentional control processing on prefrontal and cingulate activity. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses of 16 outpatients with schizophrenia were compared with those of 21 healthy subjects while performing a task eliciting increasing levels of attentional control during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T. Results showed reduced behavioral performance in patients at greater attentional control levels. Imaging data indicated greater prefrontal activity at intermediate attentional control levels in patients but greater prefrontal and cingulate responses at high attentional control demands in controls. The BOLD activity profile of these regions in controls increased linearly with increasing cognitive loads, whereas in patients, it was nonlinear. Correlation analysis consistently showed differential region and load-specific relationships between brain activity and behavior in the 2 groups. These results indicate that varying attentional control load is associated in schizophrenia with load- and region-specific modification of the relationship between behavior and brain activity, possibly suggesting earlier saturation of cognitive capacity.
KW - Attention
KW - Cognitive load
KW - fMRI
KW - Parametric design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77949398277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77949398277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhp146
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhp146
M3 - Article
C2 - 19633177
AN - SCOPUS:77949398277
VL - 20
SP - 837
EP - 845
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
SN - 1047-3211
IS - 4
ER -