Exploration of Neural Bases in Social Cognition

University Hospital, Caen60 enrolled

Overview

An impairment in social cognition in schizophrenia could account for the severe professional and social difficulties among patients. Social cognition is the way the social world is understood, perceived and interpreted. It includes all the process than enable oneself to interact with another person, namely emotion perception and processing, theory of mind (ToM), social perception, social knowledge and attributional style. Since these process are interconnected, social cognition should be investigated through ecological tasks which activate all of them together. Developing a social cognition ecological task, then testing the reproducibility of the functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) BOLD signal is the main objective of this study. The secondary objective is to seek a functional deficit among the neural network of social cognition in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy subjects. Forty healthy subjects, aged from 18 to 60 years old, who have given a written consent, will be included. The social cognition paradigm will be developed and the fMRI activations will be compared to those of a visual cartoon based task, known to turn on the neural network of ToM. BOLD signal variations at a high statistical correction ratio (p\<0.05) will be explored and compared to the signal of a second fMRI, made on the same 20 healthy subjects one month later, to test reproducibility (% of identical activated voxels during the 2 fMRI, p\<0.05). Twenty matched patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV-R), aged from 18 to 60 will be included to test the secondary objective. We make the hypothesis of a fMRI functional alteration in the cerebral network involved in social cognition, especially in the medial prefrontal cortex, among patients compared with healthy subjects.

Social cognition neural basis. Impairment of the "social brain" in schizophrenia

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 60 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Subjects aged from 18 to 60 years old * who have signed a consent and, if there is one, whose legal representant has signed a consent 1)For healthy subjects: * without any psychiatric affection (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview) 2)For patients * meeting the DSM-IV-R criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder Exclusion Criteria: * pregnant woman * neurological affection * medical objection to Magnetic Resonance Imagery (MRI)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Developing a social cognition ecological task, then testing the reproducibility of the functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) BOLD signal

The social cognition paradigm will be developed and the fMRI activations will be compared to those of a visual cartoon based task, known to turn on the neural network of ToM. BOLD signal variations at a high statistical correction ratio (p\<0.05) will be explored and compared to the signal of a second fMRI, made on the same 20 healthy subjects one month later, to test reproducibility (% of identical activated voxels during the 2 fMRI, p\<0.05)

Time frame: Day 1 for individual analysis. Up to 24 months for group analysis.

Secondary Outcomes

Identifying a functional deficit among the neural network of social cognition in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy subjects.

Using the previous social cognition ecological task, BOLD signal variations at a high statistical correction ratio (p\<0.05) of 20 patients with schizophrenia will be compared to those of 20 matched healthy subjects.