Auditory-verbal functional studies of schizophrenia

描述(申请人提供)：这项建议将使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)来评估首发(FE)、慢性精神分裂症(CSZ)和匹配的对照受试者(CN)的早期听觉加工、词语语义加工及其与阳性症状的关系。这些研究旨在了解大脑功能障碍与症状之间的联系，从而促进发现预防措施和治疗方法。颞上回(STG)在听觉言语知觉和语言加工中起重要作用。在精神分裂症受试者(SZ)的MRI研究中，这一区域一直被报道显示体积减小。这些音量减少与幻听、思维障碍和听觉事件相关电位(ERP)异常有关。左侧STG异常在SZ的主动幻觉或听觉-语言处理的功能成像研究中也是一致的。使用失配负波(MMN)刺激发现慢性SZ患者STG中的fMRI异常活动，该刺激类似于ERP范式中使用的刺激。最近的发现证明了正常人语言偏侧化的基础是结构和功能上的证据。除了MMN任务外，我们还将在快速声学处理任务(RAP)中使用这些最新发现，作为拟议中的研究深圳早期听觉处理的基础。外侧颞区(中、下)和颞顶区被认为在语义加工中起作用。这些区域在使用语言的精神分裂症的功能成像和事件相关电位研究中也显示出异常。语义启动在一些研究中被证明在深圳是不正常的(尽管不是一致的)。最近的一项行为研究使用了语义网络属性不同的单词。SZ被试在词汇线索回忆上的成绩下降归因于语义网络中的异常连接的影响，而不是网络的大小。SZ和CN受试者将在听觉/言语语义启动的fMRI研究中接受测试。本研究将考察与语义联结之间的扩散激活相关的大脑活动。词语的连通性程度会有所不同，因此它们之间的传播激活程度也会有所不同。最近完成的一项对CN受试者的初步研究使用了这一语义启动任务(SP)，发现正如预测的那样，颞叶区域不同的大脑活动模式与单词对的不同语义属性(连通性和关联性)有关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess early auditory processing, verbal semantic processing, and their association with positive symptoms in first episode (FE), chronic schizophrenic (CSZ), and matched control subjects (CN). These studies are aimed at understanding the link between brain dysfunction and symptoms, thus facilitating the discovery of preventative measures and treatments. The superior temporal gyrus (STG) plays a major role in auditory speech perception and language processing. This region is consistently reported to show volume reductions in MRI studies of schizophrenic subjects (SZ). These volume reductions have been linked to auditory hallucinations, thought disorder, and auditory event-related potential (ERP) abnormalities. Left STG abnormalities are also consistently shown in functional imaging studies of active hallucination or of auditory-verbal processing in SZ. Abnormal fMRI activity in the STG in chronic SZ was found using mismatch negativity (MMN) stimuli that were similar to those used in an ERP paradigm. Recent discoveries have documented structural and functional evidence for the basis of language lateralization in normal individuals. We will use these recent discoveries, in a rapid acoustic processing task (RAP), in addition to the MMN task, as a basis for proposed studies examining early auditory processing in SZ. Lateral temporal (middle, inferior) and temporal-parietal regions are thought to play a role in semantic processing. These regions have also shown abnormalities in functional imaging and ERP studies of schizophrenia that use language. Semantic priming has been shown (although not consistently) in a number of studies to be abnormal in SZ. A recent behavioral study used words that differed in terms of the properties of their semantic networks. The reduced performance of SZ subjects on the cued recall of words was attributed to the effects of abnormal connectivity in the semantic network but not network size. SZ and CN subjects will be tested in an fMRI study of auditory/verbal semantic priming. This study will examine the brain activity related to the spreading activation between semantic associates. Words will vary in the degree of connectivity, and hence the degree of spreading activation between their associates. A recently completed preliminary study of CN subjects used this semantic priming task (SP) and found that as predicted, different patterns of brain activity in temporal lobe regions were associated with different semantic properties (connectivity and relatedness) of the word pairs.