Abstract
Stable neuropsychological deficits may provide a reliable basis for identifying etiological subtypes of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to identify clusters of individuals with schizophrenia based on dimensions of neuropsychological performance, and to characterize their neural correlates. We acquired neuropsychological data as well as structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging from 129 patients with schizophrenia and 165 healthy controls. We derived eight cognitive dimensions and subsequently applied a cluster analysis to identify possible schizophrenia subtypes. Analyses suggested the following four cognitive clusters of schizophrenia: (1) Diminished Verbal Fluency, (2) Diminished Verbal Memory and Poor Motor Control, (3) Diminished Face Memory and Slowed Processing, and (4) Diminished Intellectual Function. The clusters were characterized by a specific pattern of structural brain changes in areas such as Wernicke's area, lingual gyrus and occipital face area, and hippocampus as well as differences in working memory-elicited neural activity in several fronto-parietal brain regions. Separable measures of cognitive function appear to provide a method for deriving cognitive subtypes meaningfully related to brain structure and function. Because the present study identified brain-based neural correlates of the cognitive clusters, the proposed groups of individuals with schizophrenia have some external validity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 74-83 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging |
Volume | 234 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 30 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NCRR P41RR14075 , 1RC1MH089257 , and R01EB005846 ) (to VDC), Department of Energy ( DE-FG02-99ER62764 ), Mind Research Network , Morphometry BIRN ( 1U24, RR021382A ), Function BIRN ( U24RR021992-01 , NIH.NCRR MO1 RR025758-01 ), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (research fellowship to SE) and the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (to S.E).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
Keywords
- Cluster analysis
- Cognitive subtypes
- Cortical thickness
- Neural correlates
- Neuropsychological performance
- Schizophrenia
- Subcortical volume
- Working memory