Reduced neural activity of the prefrontal cognitive control circuitry during response inhibition to negative words in people with schizophrenia

Background Schizophrenia is characterized by deficits in executive control and impairments in emotion processing. This study assessed the nature and extent of potential alterations in the neural substrates supporting the interaction between cognitive control mechanisms and emotion attribution processes in people with schizophrenia. Methods Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed during a verbal emotional go/no-go task. People with schizophrenia and healthy controls responded to word stimuli of a prespecified emotional valence (positive, negative or neutral) while inhibiting responses to stimuli of a different valence. Results We enrolled 20 people with schizophrenia and 23 controls in the study. Healthy controls activated an extensive dorsal prefrontal–parietal network while inhibiting responses to negative words compared to neutral words, but showed deactivation of the midcingulate cortex while inhibiting responses to positive words compared to neutral words. People with schizophrenia failed to activate this network during response inhibition to negative words, whereas during response inhibition to positive words they did not deactivate the cingulate, but showed increased responsivity in the frontal cortex. Limitations Sample heterogeneity is characteristic of studies of schizophrenia and may have contributed to more variable neural responses in the patient sample despite the care taken to control for potentially confounding variables. Conclusion Our results showed that schizophrenia is associated with aberrant modulation of neural responses during the interaction between cognitive control and emotion processing. Failure of the frontal circuitry to regulate goal-directed behaviour based on emotion attributions may contribute to deficits in psychosocial functioning in daily life.