Alteration in left frontoparietal connectivity correlates with impaired cognitive reappraisal in early psychosis

Silvia Kyungjin Lho; Taekwan Kim; Sun-Young Moon; Minah Kim; Jun Soo Kwon

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.036

Alteration in left frontoparietal connectivity correlates with impaired cognitive reappraisal in early psychosis

Schizophr Res. 2024 Mar 25:267:130-137. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.036. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Silvia Kyungjin Lho¹, Taekwan Kim², Sun-Young Moon³, Minah Kim⁴, Jun Soo Kwon⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
³ Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Public Health Service, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: verte82@snu.ac.kr.
⁵ Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 38531160
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.036

Abstract

Background: Impaired cognitive reappraisal is a notable symptom of early psychosis, but its neurobiological basis remains underexplored. We aimed to identify the underlying neurobiological mechanism of this impairment by using resting-state functional connectivity (FC) analyses focused on brain regions related to cognitive reappraisal.

Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were collected from 36 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, 32 clinical high-risk (CHR) individuals, and 48 healthy controls (HCs). Whole-brain FC maps using seed regions associated with cognitive reappraisal were generated and compared across the FEP, CHR and HC groups. We assessed the correlation between resting-state FC, reappraisal success ratio, positive symptom severity and social functioning controlling for covariates.

Results: FEP patients showed higher FC between the left superior parietal lobe and left inferior frontal gyrus than HCs. Higher FC between the left superior parietal lobe and left inferior frontal gyrus negatively correlated with the reappraisal success ratio in the FEP group after controlling for covariates. Lower FC correlated with lower positive symptom severity and improved global functioning in the FEP group.

Conclusions: Alteration in left frontoparietal connectivity reflects impaired cognitive reappraisal in early psychosis, and such alteration correlates with increased positive symptoms and decreased global functioning. These findings offer a potential path for interventions targeting newly emerging symptoms in the early stages of psychosis.

Keywords: Clinical high risk; Cognitive reappraisal; First-episode psychosis; Resting-state functional connectivity; Schizophrenia.