Discriminating imagined from perceived information engages brain areas implicated in schizophrenia.

Full Abstract

Some of the symptoms of schizophrenia may reflect a difficulty discriminating between information that was perceived from the outside world and information that was imagined. This study used fMRI to examine the brain regions associated with this reality monitoring ability in healthy volunteers, who recollected whether information had previously been perceived or imagined, or whether information had been presented on the left or right of a monitor screen. Recent studies have suggested that schizophrenia may be associated particularly with dysfunction in medial anterior prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum. In our data, activation in all three of these regions of interest was significantly greater during recollection of whether stimuli had been perceived or imagined versus recollection of stimulus position. In addition, reduced prefrontal activation was associated with the same misattribution error that has been observed in schizophrenia. These results indicate a possible link between the brain areas implicated in schizophrenia and the regions supporting the ability to discriminate between perceived and imagined information.

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Author information

Author/s: Simons, Jon S (JS); Davis, Simon W (SW); Gilbert, Sam J (SJ); Frith, Chris D (CD); Burgess, Paul W (PW);

Affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University College London, UK. jss30(-atsign-)cam.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 32 (issue 2) : pp 696-703

Dates: Created 2006/08/07; Completed 2006/10/18; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16797186, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Brain - physiopathology
Brain Mapping
Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology
Cues
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Imagination - physiology
Imaging, Three-Dimensional

Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory, Short-Term
Mental Recall - physiology
Nerve Net - physiopathology
Orientation - physiology
Paired-Associate Learning - physiology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology
Reading
Reality Testing
Reference Values
Schizophrenia - physiopathology

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