Functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia: An fMRI and VBM study.
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Date
2015-06
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Abstract
Empathy deficit is a core feature of schizophrenia which may lead to social dysfunction. The present study was carried
out to investigate functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia using
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A sample of 14 schizophrenia
patients and 14 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and education were examined with structural highresolution
T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during empathy task in the same session. The analysis was
carried out using SPM8 software. On behavioural assessment, schizophrenic patients (83.00±29.04) showed less
scores for sadness compared to healthy controls (128.70±22.26) (p<0.001). fMRI results also showed reduced clusters
of activation in the bilateral fusiform gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left middle and inferior occipital gyrus in schizophrenic
subjects as compared to controls during empathy task. In the same brain areas, VBM results also showed reduced grey
and white matter volumes. The present study provides an evidence for an association between structural alterations
and disturbed functional brain activation during empathy task in persons affected with schizophrenia. These findings
suggest a biological basis for social cognition deficits in schizophrenics.
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Keywords
BOLD, empathy, fMRI, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, schizophrenia, VBM
Citation
Singh Sadhana, Modi Shilpi, Goyal Satnam, Kaur Prabhjot, Singh Namita, Bhatia Triptish, Deshpande Smita N, Khushu Subash. Functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia: An fMRI and VBM study. Journal of Biosciences. 2015 June; 40(2): 355-364.