Maintaining Emotion in Schizophrenia

Four studies to date have assessed affective modulation of the startle response in schizophrenia, and all have found that people with schizophrenia exhibit the same pattern of startle modulation in the presence of evocative stimuli as do people without schizophrenia (Curtis et al., 1999; Schlenker et al., 1995; Volz et al.,2003; Yee et al., 2010). No study has examined the maintenance of affective modulation of the startle response in schizophrenia. To our knowledge, only two studies have assessed emotion-related maintenance in schizophrenia (Heerey & Gold, 2007; Ursu et al.,in press). In an fMRI study (Ursu et al., in press), people with schizophrenia and healthy controls exhibited comparable regions of brain activation while viewing emotional pictures, yet people with schizophrenia diverged from healthy controls in brain activation once the pictures were removed from view. Both groups showed activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal and ventromedial PFC, and amygdala during picture presentation. However, only controls continued to exhibit activity in dorsolateral, ventromedial, and orbitofrontal PFC following picture offset, supporting the notion that people with schizophrenia have difficulty maintaining emotion in the service of goal-directed behavior. In a behavioral study, Heerey and Gold (2007) showed people with and without schizophrenia emotionally evocative pictures in two conditions and had them press a button quickly either to see it again (for positive images) or to not see it again (for negativeimages). In the first, called the representational responding condition, button pressing took place after the image was removed from view for 3 s. In the second, called the evoked responding condition, button pressing commenced during picture viewing. Interesting group differences emerged in the representational condition, in which participants presumably needed to maintain a representation of the pictures to guide their button pressing. Healthy individuals exhibited a pattern of button pressing that was distinguishable by valence (i.e., they pressed the button more frequently for the emotional than the neutral pictures), but participants with schizophrenia did not show such differentiation. Taken together, these fMRI and behavioral studies point to difficulties in maintaining emotion in the service of motivated behavior among people with schizophrenia. with schizophrenia exhibit the same pattern of startle modulation in the presence of evocative stimuli as do people without schizophrenia (Curtis et al., 1999; Schlenker et al., 1995; Volz et al.,2003; Yee et al., 2010). No study has examined the maintenance of affective modulation of the startle response in schizophrenia. To our knowledge, only two studies have assessed emotion-related maintenance in schizophrenia (Heerey & Gold, 2007; Ursu et al.,in press). In an fMRI study (Ursu et al., in press), people with schizophrenia and healthy controls exhibited comparable regions of brain activation while viewing emotional pictures, yet people with schizophrenia diverged from healthy controls in brain activation once the pictures were removed from view. Both groups showed activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal and ventromedial PFC, and amygdala during picture presentation. However, only controls continued to exhibit activity indorsolateral, ventromedial, and orbitofrontal PFC following picture offset, supporting the notion that people with schizophrenia have difficulty maintaining emotion in the service of goal directed behavior. In a behavioral study, Heerey and Gold (2007) showed people with and without schizophrenia emotionally evocative pictures in two conditions and had them press a button quickly either to see it again (for positive images) or to not see it again (for negative images). In the first, called the representational responding condition, button pressing took place after the image was removed from view for 3 s. In the second, called the evoked responding condition, button pressing commenced during picture viewing. Interesting group differences emerged in the representational condition, in which participants presumably needed to maintain a representation of the pictures to guide their button pressing. Healthy individuals exhibited a pattern of button pressing that was distinguishable by valence (i.e., they pressed the button more frequently for the emotional than the neutral pictures), but participants with schizophrenia did not show such differentiation. Taken together, these fMRI and behavioral studies point to difficulties in maintaining emotion in the service of motivated behavior among people with