Neural simulation mechanisms and social-emotional function in schizophrenia

Impairment in simulation, i.e., the generation of internal representations of experiences, may contribute to social dysfunction in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZ). Using a novel fMRI task, we identified neural representations generated during simulation of sensorimotor experiences and evaluated their associations with socioemotional function in 19 individuals with SZ and 24 psychiatrically-healthy controls (HC). Participants watched videos depicting a painful sensorimotor experience in the hand or foot of another person and were then asked to imagine how unpleasant it would be to undergo that experience themselves, eliciting simulation.

Source: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging - October 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Cora E. Mukerji, Sarah Hope Lincoln, Laura M. Tully, David Dodell-Feder, Christine I. Hooker Source Type: research