Brain activation patterns during a verbal fluency test - a functional MRI study in healthy volunteers and patients with schizophrenia

FMRI was used to study cortical activation patterns in nine healthy male subjects and nine high-functioning male schizophrenia patients during a letter verbal fluency task. Both groups showed similar patterns of activation, however, in controls the activation was primarily in the left broca area, while for schizophrenia patients, it was more bilateral. These data indicate that high-functioning schizophrenia patients show a reduced language lateralization of the frontal cortex compared to healthy controls. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.