Neuropsychological disturbance in schizophrenia: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

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Abstract
Patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects underwent both neuropsychological evaluation and magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging, during which the cingulum bundle (CB) and the uncinate fasciculus (UF) were defined with fiber tractography and their integrity was quantified. On the basis of prior findings, it was hypothesized that neuropsychological disturbance in schizophrenia may be characterized, in part, by 2 dissociable functional neuroanatomical relationships: (a) executive functioning-CB integrity and (b) episodic memory-UF integrity. In support of the hypothesis, hierarchical regression results indicated that reduced white matter of the CB and the UF differentially and specifically predicted deficits in executive functioning and memory, respectively. Neuropsychological correlates of the CB also extended to lower generalized intelligence, as well as to reduced visual memory that may be related to failures of contextual monitoring of to-be-remembered scenes. Reduced white matter of the CB and the UF may each make distinct contributions to neuropsychological disturbance in schizophrenia.
Funding Information
  • National Institutes of Health (K02 MH 01110; R01 MH 50747, R01 MH 40799, RO1 MH 63360, R03 MH068464-01, U54 EB005149)
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
  • US Department of Veterans Affairs