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Comparative Study
. 2021 Jan;51(1):121-128.
doi: 10.1017/S0033291719003052. Epub 2019 Nov 4.

Autobiographical memory and default mode network function in schizophrenia: an fMRI study

Marta Martin-Subero  1   2   3 , Paola Fuentes-Claramonte  1   2 , Pilar Salgado-Pineda  1   2 , Josep Salavert  1   3   4 , Antoni Arevalo  1   5 , Clara Bosque  1   6 , Carmen Sarri  1   6 , Amalia Guerrero-Pedraza  1   6 , Aniol Santo-Angles  1 , Antoni Capdevila  7   8 , Salvador Sarró  1   2 , Raymond Salvador  1   2 , Peter J McKenna  1   2 , Edith Pomarol-Clotet  1   2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Autobiographical memory and default mode network function in schizophrenia: an fMRI study

Marta Martin-Subero et al. Psychol Med. 2021 Jan.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: The brain functional correlates of autobiographical recall are well established, but have been little studied in schizophrenia. Additionally, autobiographical memory is one of a small number of cognitive tasks that activates rather than de-activates the default mode network, which has been found to be dysfunctional in this disorder.

Methods: Twenty-seven schizophrenic patients and 30 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing cue words that evoked autobiographical memories. Control conditions included both non-memory-evoking cues and a low level baseline (cross fixation).

Results: Compared to both non-memory evoking cues and low level baseline, autobiographical recall was associated with activation in default mode network regions in the controls including the medial frontal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, as well as other areas. Clusters of de-activation were seen outside the default mode network. There were no activation differences between the schizophrenic patients and the controls, but the patients showed clusters of failure of de-activation in non-default mode network regions.

Conclusions: According to this study, patients with schizophrenia show intact activation of the default mode network and other regions associated with recall of autobiographical memories. The finding of failure of de-activation outside the network suggests that schizophrenia may be associated with a general difficulty in de-activation rather than dysfunction of the default mode network per se.

Keywords: Autobiographical memory; default mode network; fMRI; schizophrenia.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Areas of significant differences between the autobiographical memory-evoking and non-evoking cue conditions for the healthy subjects (a) and the schizophrenic patients (b). Warm colours represent autobiographical recall > non-memory-evoking cues, cold colours represent non-memory-evoking cues > autobiographical recall. Bottom row (c) shows areas of significant differences between the patients and controls in this contrast. Colour bars depict Z values. Images are displayed in neurological convention (right is right).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Activation map for the autobiographical memory-evoking cues v. fixation condition in the healthy subjects (a) and the schizophrenic patients (b). Warm colours represent autobiographical cues > baseline. Cold colours represent baseline > autobiographical cues. The third panel (c) shows areas of significant differences between the patients and the controls in this contrast. Colour bars depict Z values. Images are displayed in neurological convention (right is right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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