Neural correlates of binocular depth inversion illusion in antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia patients.
OBJECTIVES
Binocular depth inversion illusion (BDII), a visual, 'top-down'-driven information process, is impaired in schizophrenia and particularly in its early stages. BDII is a sensitive measure of impaired visual information processing and represents a valid diagnostic tool for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. However, neurobiological underpinnings of aberrant BDII in first-episode schizophrenia are largely unknown at present.


METHODS
In this study, 22 right-handed, first-episode, antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients underwent BDII assessment and MRI scanning at 1.5 T. The surface-based analysis via new version of Freesurfer (6.0) enabled calculation of cortical thickness and surface area. BDII total and faces scores were related to the two distinct cortical measurements.


RESULTS
We found a significant correlation between BDII performance and cortical thickness in the inferior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus (p < 0.003, Bonferroni corr.), as well as superior parietal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and precentral gyrus (p < 0.05, CWP corr.), respectively. BDII performance was significantly correlated with surface area in the superior parietal gyrus and right postcentral gyrus (p < 0.003, Bonferroni corr.).


CONCLUSION
BDII performance may be linked to cortical thickness and surface area variations in regions involved in "adaptive" or "top-down" modulation and stimulus processing, i.e., frontal and parietal lobes. Our results suggest that cortical features of distinct evolutionary and genetic origin differently contribute to BDII performance in first-episode, antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients.
['Rohleder|Cathrin|C|', 'Koethe|Dagmar|D|', 'Fritze|Stefan|S|', 'Topor|Cristina E|CE|', 'Leweke|F Markus|FM|', 'Hirjak|Dusan|D|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D003867:Depth Perception D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D009903:Optical Illusions D010468:Perceptual Disorders D017397:Prefrontal Cortex D012559:Schizophrenia D014796:Visual Perception D055815:Young Adult
Schizophrenia MRI FreeSurfer Cortex Depth inversion illusion (DII) Perception