Visual Plasticity in Schizophrenia:A Training Program

精神分裂症的视觉可塑性：培训计划

• 批准号: 6650753
• 负责人: MALLE ANNE TAGAMETS
• 金额: $ 14.22万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-23 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6650753
• 关键词: brain; clinical research; cognition; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human subject; language; neural information processing; neuropsychology; reading; schizophrenia; semantics; training; vocabulary

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A wide range of abnormalities in thought processes characterizes schizophrenia. Loose associations a condition in which associations among cognitive elements do not follow the cohesive structure found in normal individuals, is one of the cardinal features of this syndrome. Functionally, abnormalities have been found in a number of different brain regions in schizophrenia. This suggests that associative thought disorder in schizophrenia might be understood in terms of the interactions among widespread brain regions that mediate associations. This study is aimed at characterizing interactions among brain regions during single-word reading, both in schizophrenia and in normal function. Reading is a task that is known to tap into a wide range of associations. More generally, strings of letters or symbols, depending on their content and arrangement, can have a variety of associations ranging from semantic, phonological and lexical familiarity associated with real words to the purely visual properties in strings of unfamiliar symbols. The goal of this study is to perform an in-depth investigation into how interactions among widespread regions of the brain mediate cognitive associations in schizophrenia by using reading tasks with four different types of strings that vary in their similarity to real words. The study includes 3 segments: 1) Identification of the networks that mediate the tasks in normal volunteers and in patients with schizophrenia; 2) Computation of the interactions among the components of this network and assessment of how they differ between the two groups; and 3) Examination of how associations are formed when subjects are familiarized with initially unfamiliar strings. This research will lead to a better understanding of language disorganization in schizophrenia. In conjunction with the research, the educational activities proposed will prepare me to begin independent clinical research using both behavioral and pharmacological manipulations. This combined research and educational approach may enhance drug development with respect to specific interacting elements of the brain, and may promote an improvement in schizophrenia treatment strategies.

描述（由申请人提供）：精神分裂症的特征是思维过程的广泛异常。松散的联想--认知要素之间的联想不遵循正常个体中发现的内聚结构的情况，是这种综合征的主要特征之一。在功能上，精神分裂症患者的许多不同大脑区域都发现了异常。这表明，精神分裂症中的联想思维障碍可能是通过介导联想的广泛大脑区域之间的相互作用来理解的。本研究旨在描述精神分裂症患者和正常人在单个单词阅读过程中大脑区域之间的相互作用。众所周知，阅读是一项能挖掘各种联想的任务。更一般地，字母或符号串根据其内容和排列可以具有各种关联，从与真实的单词相关联的语义、语音和词汇熟悉性到不熟悉符号串中的纯视觉属性。本研究的目的是进行深入的调查，如何广泛的大脑区域之间的相互作用，调解精神分裂症的认知协会，通过使用阅读任务与四种不同类型的字符串，不同的相似性，以真实的话。该研究包括3个部分：1）识别正常志愿者和精神分裂症患者中介导任务的网络; 2）计算该网络组件之间的相互作用，并评估它们在两组之间的差异; 3）检查当受试者熟悉最初不熟悉的字符串时，如何形成关联。这项研究将有助于更好地了解精神分裂症的语言紊乱。在研究的同时，建议的教育活动将使我准备开始独立的临床研究，使用行为和药理学操作。这种研究和教育相结合的方法可能会加强药物开发方面的特定相互作用的大脑元素，并可能促进精神分裂症治疗策略的改善。