Andreasen N C, O'Leary D S, Cizadlo T, Arndt S, Rezai K, Ponto L L, Watkins G L, Hichwa R D
Mental Health Clinical Research Center, University of Iowa College of Medicine and Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City 52242, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Sep 3;93(18):9985-90. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.18.9985.
Patients suffering from schizophrenia display subtle cognitive abnormalities that may reflect a difficulty in rapidly coordinating the steps that occur in a variety of mental activities. Working interactively with the prefrontal cortex, the cerebellum may play a role in coordinating both motor and cognitive performance. This positron-emission tomography study suggests the presence of a prefrontal-thalamic-cerebellar network that is activated when normal subjects recall complex narrative material, but is dysfunctional in schizophrenic patients when they perform the same task. These results support a role for the cerebellum in cognitive functions and suggest that patients with schizophrenia may suffer from a "cognitive dysmetria" due to dysfunctional prefrontal-thalamic-cerebellar circuitry.
