ERROR-PROCESSING NETWORKS IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS AND IN SCHIZOPHRENIA Individuals with schizophrenia often show impairments monitoring their own performance, and adjusting their behavior to the changing demands of the environment. Detecting that an error has occurred is critical to this process. The overall objective of this research is to gain insights into the neural mechanisms that underlie error-processing at a network level, and to examine how it may differ in individuals with schizophrenia. To date, most of the research on the neural bases of error-processing has focused on anterior cingulate cortex responses to error commission. However, accurate error-detection and subsequent behavioral adjustments are unlikely to rely on a single brain region. A better understanding of error-processing, both in healthy populations and in schizophrenia, requires closer examination of the functional contribution of a distributed system specialized in processing signals related to error-detection and to post-error behavioral adjustments. Through the specific aims described below, the current study will examine behavioral adjustments (i.e. post-error slowing) and brain activity (as measured using fMRI) in response to error commission during a validated task in individuals with schizophrenia and in healthy controls. In addition, we will examine the relationships between the severity of specific clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, task performance and brain activation. We believe this approach will significantly contribute to our understanding of the nature of the well-known and broadly documented cognitive deficits present in individuals with schizophrenia. The knowledge derived from this research will serve to inform the development of more effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Specific Aim 1 : Examine behavioral adjustments (i.e. post-error slowing) and brain activity (using fMRI) in response to error-commission and to cues that predict the likelihood of committing an error during a well- validated change-signal task in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls.
Specific Aim 2 : A) Examine the status of the error-processing system in healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia independently of task demands using functional connectivity analyses of fMRI resting state data. B) Examine the relationship between functional connectivity and post-error behavioral adjustments in healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia.
Specific Aim 3 : Determine whether individual differences in clinical symptoms of schizophrenia predict alterations in behavioral adjustments to error-commission and in error-related activity at a network level.
Cognitive deficits in individuals with schizophrenia compromise the outcome and quality of life of those suffering from this disease. Because error-processing is critical for a wide range of cognitive tasks, a better understanding of the relationships between error-related task performance, brain activation and specific clinical symptoms of schizophrenia has the potential of contributing to our understanding of the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms underlying the well-known and broadly documented cognitive deficits that are a core feature of this disease. The knowledge gained from this research may serve to highlight pathways or points of entry for remediation approaches aimed at ameliorating such cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, and help develop more effective treatment strategies to cope with cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.
