Neuroimaging Studies of Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia.

Neuroimaging Studies of Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1118:117-134 Authors: Penadés R, Franck N, González-Vallespí L, Dekerle M Abstract Persons suffering from schizophrenia present cognitive impairments that have a major functional impact on their lives. Particularly, executive functions and episodic memory are consistently found to be impaired. Neuroimaging allows the investigation of affected areas of the brain associated with these impairments and, moreover, the detection of brain functioning improvements after cognitive remediation interventions. For instance, executive function impairments have been associated with prefrontal cortex volume and thickness; cognitive control impairments are correlated with an increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, and episodic memory impairments are linked to hippocampal reduction. Some findings suggest the presence of brain compensatory mechanisms in schizophrenia, e.g. recruiting broader cortical areas to perform identical tasks. Similarly, neuroimaging studies of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia focus differentially on structural, functional and connectivity changes. Cognitive remediation improvements have been reported in two main areas: the prefrontal and thalamic regions. It has been suggested that those changes imply a functional reorganisation of neural networks, and cognitive remediation interventions might have a neuroprotective effe...
Source: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - Category: Research Tags: Adv Exp Med Biol Source Type: research