Aversive conditioning in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders using fMRI: A pilot study

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Abstract Submission 

Jimmy Jensen¹

¹Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden

Jimmy Jensen  
Kristianstad University
Kristianstad, Sweden

Abnormal functioning in the brain´s reward systems and prediction systems are reported in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The current study aimed to examine neural responses, particularly in the ventral striatum, as patients learned aversive associations in a Pavlovian conditiong paradigm.

Functional magnetic resonance images were obtained using a 3T GE signa HDx scanner. In the Pavlovian conditioning the conditioned stimulus (CS+), a coloured circle, was followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US). The US consisted of an unpleasant high noise in 50% of the trials. A control stimulus (CS-), a circle of another colour as compared to the CS+, was followed by a low not unpleasant sound in 50% of the trials. Twelve unmedicated patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and twelve healthy control subjects, matched on age, gender and IQ, underwent the conditioning paradigm using fMRI.

No significant activation differences in the ventral striatum were obtained comparing the patients and the healthy controls using the contrast [CS+>CS-] (peak Z= 1.81; pSVC=n.s in the right ventral striatum). No significant correlations between symptoms and neural responses in the ventral striatum were found among the patients (all p>0.09).

In summary, the study yielded no significant differences in activations in the ventral striatum comparing patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and healthy controls in an aversive conditioning paradigm. However, the lack of effect might due to the low statistical power in this pilot study.

Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) ¹

Emotional Learning ²

FUNCTIONAL MRI

Learning

Schizophrenia