Ruan Xi, Zhang Lang, Duan Mingjun, Yao Dezhong, Luo Cheng, He Hui
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 17;16:1533675. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1533675. eCollection 2025.
Schizophrenic individuals experience a prolonged prodrome before their first episode, often referred to as Psychosis Risk Syndromes (PRS). The PRS is characterized by non-specific symptoms, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Representational similarity analysis (RSA) has proven effective in elucidating the relationships between different data modalities. This approach could provide valuable insights into the functional coupling between sensory perception and emotion in PRS subjects. In this study, there were 27 PRS subjects and 33 control subjects. Neuropsychological assessments were conducted to evaluate the participants' recent mental states and their risk of mental illness. Each subject underwent task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which included steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) and expression matching tasks. The areas of brain activity were defined as regions of interest (ROIs). RSA was used to calculate the relationships between the SSVEP and expression matching tasks. In the functional coupling between the SSVEP at 5 Hz and 10 Hz conditions, the PRS group showed lower functional coupling in the fusiform area compared to controls. Additionally, in the functional coupling between the SSVEP at 10 Hz and the emotion matching conditions, the PRS group demonstrated decreased activation in visual regions compared to controls. Overall, our findings suggest that PRS subjects exhibit diminished functional couplings between basic visual stimuli and vision-emotion matching tasks, indicating abnormal visual processing in both the primary visual cortex and more advanced stages of information processing.
精神分裂症患者在首次发作前会经历一段较长的前驱期，通常被称为精神病风险综合征（PRS）。PRS的特征是非特异性症状，但其潜在的神经机制仍不清楚。表征相似性分析（RSA）已被证明在阐明不同数据模式之间的关系方面是有效的。这种方法可以为PRS患者的感觉知觉和情绪之间的功能耦合提供有价值的见解。在本研究中，有27名PRS患者和33名对照者。进行了神经心理学评估，以评估参与者最近的精神状态及其患精神疾病的风险。每个受试者都接受了基于任务的功能磁共振成像（fMRI），其中包括稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEP）和表情匹配任务。大脑活动区域被定义为感兴趣区域（ROI）。使用RSA来计算SSVEP与表情匹配任务之间的关系。在5Hz和10Hz条件下的SSVEP功能耦合中，与对照组相比，PRS组在梭状回区域的功能耦合较低。此外，在10Hz的SSVEP与情绪匹配条件之间的功能耦合中，与对照组相比，PRS组在视觉区域的激活减少。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，PRS患者在基本视觉刺激与视觉-情绪匹配任务之间的功能耦合减弱，这表明初级视觉皮层和更高级信息处理阶段的视觉处理均异常。
