Journal
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
Volume 41, Issue 2, Pages 136-141Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00048670601109907
Keywords
emotion processing; functional MRI; schizophrenia; sex differences
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: Impaired processing of various emotions is considered one of the fundamental features of schizophrenia. In the recent study intriguing sex differences were observed in the cerebral function associated with the experience of sadness in schizophrenia patients. The aim of the present study was to explore this phenomenon during exposure to aversive stimuli. Method: Fifteen men and 10 women with the DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (WRI) while viewing alternating blocks of negative and neutral pictures. Data were analysed using random-effects model within statistical parametric mapping (SPM99) software. Results: Processing of negative stimuli evoked significantly greater activations in men in the thalamus, cerebellum, temporal, occipital and posterior cingulate cortex, while women exhibited greater activations in the left middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions: The sex differences in the cerebral activations in schizophrenia patients deviate from what has been observed in the general population during exposure and experience of negative affect. As such the present study supports and extends the authors' preliminary observation of the anomalous sexual dimorphism in schizophrenia at the functional neuroanatomical level, suggesting potential masculinization of female subjects and feminization of male subjects with schizophrenia.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available