Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Aug 30;213(2):99-107. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.04.001. Epub 2013 Jun 6.
Both cognitive and social-cognitive deficits impact functional outcome in schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation studies indicate that targeted cognitive and/or social-cognitive training improves behavioral performance on trained skills. However, the neural effects of training in schizophrenia and their relation to behavioral gains are largely unknown. This study tested whether a 50-h intervention which included both cognitive and social-cognitive training would influence neural mechanisms that support social ccognition. Schizophrenia participants completed a computer-based intervention of either auditory-based cognitive training (AT) plus social-cognition training (SCT) (N=11) or non-specific computer games (CG) (N=11). Assessments included a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of facial emotion recognition, and behavioral measures of cognition, social cognition, and functional outcome. The fMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Results were strongest for emotion recognition of happy, surprise and fear: relative to CG participants, AT+SCT participants showed a neural activity increase in bilateral amygdala, right putamen and right medial prefrontal cortex. Across all participants, pre-to-post intervention neural activity increase in these regions predicted behavioral improvement on an independent emotion perception measure (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Among AT+SCT participants alone, neural activity increase in right amygdala predicted behavioral improvement in emotion perception. The findings indicate that combined cognition and social-cognition training improves neural systems that support social-cognition skills.
认知和社会认知缺陷都会影响精神分裂症的功能结果。认知矫正研究表明,有针对性的认知和/或社会认知训练可以提高训练技能的行为表现。然而,训练在精神分裂症中的神经效应及其与行为收益的关系在很大程度上尚不清楚。本研究测试了 50 小时的干预措施,包括认知和社会认知训练,是否会影响支持社会认知的神经机制。精神分裂症患者完成了基于听觉的认知训练(AT)加社会认知训练(SCT)(N=11)或非特定计算机游戏(CG)(N=11)的计算机干预。评估包括面部情绪识别的功能磁共振成像(fMRI)任务,以及认知、社会认知和功能结果的行为测量。fMRI 结果显示了预期的组间时间交互作用。对于快乐、惊讶和恐惧的情绪识别,结果最为显著:与 CG 参与者相比,AT+SCT 参与者双侧杏仁核、右侧壳核和右侧内侧前额叶皮层的神经活动增加。在所有参与者中,这些区域的干预前后神经活动增加预测了独立情绪感知测量(MSCEIT:感知情绪)上的行为改善。在 AT+SCT 参与者中,右侧杏仁核的神经活动增加预测了情绪感知的行为改善。研究结果表明,联合认知和社会认知训练可以改善支持社会认知技能的神经系统。