Authors

Wiser AK. Andreasen NC. O'Leary DS. Watkins GL. Boles

Ponto LL. Hichwa RD.

 

Institution

Mental Health Clinical Research Center, University of Iowa, College of

Medicine, Iowa City 52242-1057, USA.

 

Title

Dysfunctional cortico-cerebellar circuits cause 'cognitive dysmetria' in

schizophrenia.

 

Source

Neuroreport. 9(8):1895-9, 1998 Jun 1.

 

Abstract

We examined regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during a long-term

recognition memory task for words in schizophrenic patients and in healthy

subjects using positron emission tomography (PET). The task was designed so

that performance scores were similar in the patient and control subjects.

This memory retrieval task did not increase rCBF in the patients' prefrontal

cortex, precuneus and cerebellum as much as it did in the control group.

These results point to a dysfunctional corticocerebellar circuit leading to

poorly coordinated mental activity ('cognitive dysmetria'), which could

explain the broad range of schizophrenic symptoms. In addition, other brain

areas were more activated by the task in the patient group than in the

control group and may form a compensatory network performing the memory

retrieval task by assisting or replacing the dysfunctional cortico-cerebellar

circuit.