Cerebral responses to vocal attractiveness and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: a functional MRI study

Koeda, M., Takahashi, H., Matsuura, M., Asai, K. and Okubo, Y. (2013) Cerebral responses to vocal attractiveness and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: a functional MRI study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(221), (doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00221)

Abstract

Impaired self-monitoring and abnormalities of cognitive bias have been implicated as cognitive mechanisms of hallucination; regions fundamental to these processes including inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) are abnormally activated in individuals that hallucinate. A recent study showed activation in IFG-STG to be modulated by auditory attractiveness, but no study has investigated whether these IFG-STG activations are impaired in schizophrenia. We aimed to clarify the cerebral function underlying the perception of auditory attractiveness in schizophrenia patients. Cerebral activation was examined in 18 schizophrenia patients and 18 controls when performing Favorability Judgment Task (FJT) and Gender Differentiation Task (GDT) for pairs of greetings using event-related functional MRI. A full-factorial analysis revealed that the main effect of task was associated with activation of left IFG and STG. The main effect of Group revealed less activation of left STG in schizophrenia compared with controls, whereas significantly greater activation in schizophrenia than in controls was revealed at the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), right occipital lobe, and right amygdala (p < 0.05, FDR-corrected). A significant positive correlation was observed at the right TPJ and right MFG between cerebral activation under FJT minus GDT contrast and the score of hallucinatory behavior on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale. Findings of hypo-activation in the left STG could designate brain dysfunction in accessing vocal attractiveness in schizophrenia, whereas hyper-activation in the right TPJ and MFG may reflect the process of mentalizing other person's behavior by auditory hallucination by abnormality of cognitive bias.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. It is reproduced with permission.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Koeda, Mr Michihiko
• Authors: Koeda, M., Takahashi, H., Matsuura, M., Asai, K., and Okubo, Y.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
• Publisher: Frontiers Research Foundation
• ISSN: 1662-5161
• ISSN (Online): 1662-5161
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7(221)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License