Psychosis Interdisciplinary Research Group Forward Look New developments in neuroimaging Most neuroimaging research in psychosis at the Institute now relies on magnetic resonance imaging. While functional MRI offers many advantages over PET and SPET in studies of brain activity, it has the disadvantage that the scanner produces a loud noise as images are acquired. This can make it difficult for the subject to hear auditory stimuli and his own speech, and the noise evokes temporal cortical activation, potentially confounding task-related responses in these regions. As many studies in psychosis involve auditory-verbal processing, much recent work has been directed at finding ways of minimising the effects of scanner noise. Schizophrenics Rotational displacements of the head in groups of healthy subjects and schizophrenic patients during an fMRI study of verbal fluency.
Square wave represents the two alternating task conditions.
The pattern of head displacement over the five minutes of the study is different in patients and volunteers. A further problem with fMRI is that it is exquisitely sensitive to artefacts from head movement. CSI is currently being used to compare patients with schizophrenia and controls by Thor Sigmundsson and colleagues. All forms of imaging research in the IRG are likely to benefit from the recent upgrade of the MR scanner at the Maudsley Hospital. The findings concerning developmental abnormalities in schizophrenia reported earlier have raised a number of questions concerning the mechanisms underlying neuronal development.