S.07.07: Junior Scientists symposium – New insights into the pathophysiological
substrates underlying psychiatric disorders
The social cognition network
and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit
in an emotional task
Vincent Marzloff
Caen, France
PhD student, MD in psychiatry
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
Disclosure
• Acknowledgments to
La Fondation Pierre Deniker
&
The European College of
NeuroPsychopharmacology
• No conflict of interest
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
Schizophrenia & social cognition
Neurocognitive disorders
Working memory
Executive functions
Attention…
Social
cognition
impairment
Negative symptoms
Blunted affects
Poor rapport
Emotional & social withdrawal…
Positive symptoms
Hallucinations
Delusions
Thought disorders…
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
What is social cognition ?
- Emotional processing
- Theory of mind (ToM)
- Social / cultural perception & knowledge
understanding of self and others
Green et al. 2008 ; Walter et al. 2009
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Somatosensory cortex
(mirror neurons)
Dorso-Medial and Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex dPFC
Temporo-Parietal
Junction TPJ
Ventro-Medial & Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex vPFC
Superior Temporal
Sulcus STS
Limbic system : insula amygdala
cingular cortex etc… (hidden)
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Somatosensory cortex
(mirror neurons)
Stimuli perception
and representation
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Temporo-Parietal
Junction TPJ
Distinction between
self and others (ToM)
Superior Temporal
Sulcus STS
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Limbic system : insula amygdala
cingular cortex etc… (hidden)
Emotional & motivational response
Past experiences processing & behavorial adaptation
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Dorso-Medial and Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex dPFC
Information regulation,
internal models,
judgment, empathy: ToM
Ventro-Medial & Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex vPFC
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social cognition network
Somatosensory cortex
(mirror neurons)
Stimuli perception
and representation
Temporo-Parietal
Junction TPJ
Distinction between
self and others (ToM)
Superior Temporal
Sulcus STS
Dorso-Medial and Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex dPFC
Information regulation,
internal models,
judgment, empathy: ToM
Ventro-Medial & Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex vPFC
Limbic system : insula amygdala
cingular cortex etc… (hidden)
Emotional & motivational response
Past experiences processing & behavorial adaptation
Adolphs 2003 ; Beer et Ochsner 2006
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia
Anatomic abnormalities
*
Grey matter
volume reduction
Dorso-Medial PreFrontal
Cortex dMPF
*
* **
Left Superior
Temporal gyrus
*
Ventro-Lateral & medial
PreFrontal Cortex
Limbic system : insula amygdala
anterior cingular cortex (hidden)
Wright 2000 ; Yamada 2007 ; Hooker 2011 ; Nickl-Jockschat 2011
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia
Functional alteration in social cognition
BOLD signal
reduction
Temporo-Parietal
Junction
ToM
Right Superior
Temporal gyrus
Dorso-Medial and Lateral
PreFrontal Cortex dMPF
* * **
** *
Emotions
ToM
Ventro-Lateral & medial
PreFrontal Cortex
Limbic system : insula amygdala
anterior cingular cortex (hidden)
Emotions
ToM
Li 2010 ; Anticevic 2012 ; Taylor 2012
Dollfus 2008 ; Benedetti 2009 ; Walter 2009 ; Lee 2011 ; Das 2012.
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
methods
• Hypothesis : alteration of the social brain in schizophrenia
during the attribution of verbal emotions
• Auditive task
• Matched populations :
21 patients – 24 controls.
24 emotional
sentences
Anger Joy Sadness 1st 2nd 3rd person
EMO (emotion)
GRAM( grammatical)
• fMRI 3T : T1 and EPI-BOLD acquisitions
and behavioral data

24 neutral
sentences
Debrifing : retrieving sentences out of a list
• Data treatment & statistics with SPM5
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
methods
fMRI statistical analysis with SPM5
emotional
sentences
neutral
sentences
Anger Joy Sadness 1st 2nd 3rd person
EMO (emotion)
GRAM( grammatical)
• Task effect
(EMO – GRAM)
EMO controls
EMO patients
• Disease effect
(controls - patients)
• Interaction task * disease
(EMO – GRAM) * (controls - patients)
GRAM controls
GRAM patients
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
results
Family Wise Error p < 0.05
fMRI : Effect of the disease
Controls - Patients
Bilateral temporo-parietal junctions
z = 10
y = -18
Dorso medial prefrontal cortex
z = 56
Patients - Controls
No activation
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
results
fMRI : interaction task * disease
Family Wise Error p < 0.05
(Emotion – Grammatical) * (Controls - Patients)
dorso-medial prefrontal cortex
BOLD signal variation
**
ig
Controls
x=6
Patients
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
results
24 neutral
sentences
reaction time while identifying the sentences
(pressing a pad button)
Behavioral data :
Reaction time (ms)
1200
*
**
1000
Patients
Controls
800
600
* p < 0.05
400
200
0
emotion
grammar
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
results
Behavioral data :
Performance : identifying the sentences
Patients
Controls
* p < 0.05
% correct answers
during the fMRI task
(pressing a pad button)
100
**
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
% recognised sentences
Post fMRI debriefing
Retrieving 12 heard sentences
out of a list of 24 sentences
*
*
emotion
grammar
emotion
grammar
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
The social brain in schizophrenia : an auditive fMRI emotional task
discussion
In schizophrenia :
- hypoactivation of the bilateral-temporo parietal junction and the
medial prefrontal cortex during auditive attributional tasks
=> ToM regions dysfunction
- medial prefrontal cortex deficit
in emotion processing
=> mPFC is a « hub »
of the social cognition network
**
- no cognitive deficit (equal performances in this population)
excepted during emotion processing
=> cognitive competition while processing emotion (Park , Vercammen)
Park et al. Psychiatry Research, 2011 ; Vercammen et al. J Psychiatry Neurosci, 2012
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
Conclusion
=> neural basis for the social cognition impairment in schizophrenia
=> key function of the medial prefrontal cortex in social cognition
Perspectives
- Anatomic variations : sulcal analysis of the ACC
- Ecological tasks
- Translational research based on Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)
=> novative therapeutics (cognitive remediation, psychoeducation,
…drugs? …rTMS? …)
S.07.07: Junior Scientists symposium – New insights into the pathophysiological
substrates underlying psychiatric disorders
Imagerie et Stratégies Thérapeutiques de la Schizophrénie
ISTCT, UMR6301
Caen, France
Pr. Sonia DOLLFUS (MD, PhD)
Pr. Perrine BRAZO (MD, PhD)
Pr. Pascal DELAMILLIEURE (MD, PhD)
Laurent LECARDEUR (PhD)
Elise LEROUX (PhD)
Annick RAZAFIMANDIMBY (PhD)
Clément NATHOU (MD, MSc)
Vincent MARZLOFF (MD, MSc)
marzloff@cyceron.fr
27th ECNP Congress :
S07.07 V. Marzloff
The social cognition network and its impairment in schizophrenia:
medial prefrontal cortex functional deficit in an emotional task
Thanks !