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Decreased frontal activation in schizophrenics during stimulation with the Continuous Performance Test - a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

H.-P. Volz ,
C. Gaser ,
F. Häger ,
R. Rzanny ,
J. Pönisch ,
H.-J. Mentzel ,
W.A. Kaiser  and
H. Sauer
H.-P. Volz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
C. Gaser
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
F. Häger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
R. Rzanny
Affiliation:
Institute of Diagnostical and Interventional Radiology (IDIR), Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
J. Pönisch
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
H.-J. Mentzel
Affiliation:
Institute of Diagnostical and Interventional Radiology (IDIR), Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
W.A. Kaiser
Affiliation:
Institute of Diagnostical and Interventional Radiology (IDIR), Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
H. Sauer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
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Summary

The Continuous Performance Test (CPT) has become an essential constituent of the neuropsychological investigation of schizophrenia. Also, a vast number of brain imaging studies, mostly PET investigations, have employed the CPT as a cognitive challenge and established a relative hypofrontality in schizophrenics compared to controls. The aim of the present investigation was to clarify whether this predescribed hypofrontality could also be verified using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 20 healthy volunteers and 14 schizophrenics on stable neuroleptic medication were included. Imaging was performed using the CPT-double-T-version and a clinical 1.5 T MRI-scanner with a single slice technique and a T2*-weighted gradient-echo-sequence. The schizophrenics exhibited a decreased activation in the right mesial prefrontal cortex, the right cingulate and the left thalamus compared to controls. These results obtained by fMRI are discussed in relation to published findings using PET.

Keywords

functional magnetic resonance imagingschizophreniaattentionhypofrontality

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 1999 , pp. 17 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1999

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