Unit:
Faculty of MedicineLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Dissertation committee:
Νικόλαος Σμυρνής, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Νικόλαος Στεφανής, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Χαράλαμπος Παπαγεωργίου, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Θωμάς Παπαρρηγόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Εμμανουήλ Ρίζος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ηλίας Τζαβέλλας, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Παναγιώτης Φερεντίνος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Μελέτη της επίδρασης της ανταμοιβής στους νοητικούς μηχανισμούς λήψης απόφασης σε ασθενείς με σχιζοφρένεια και χρήστες κάνναβης
Translated title:
The study of the effect of reward on cognitive mechanisms of decision processing in patients with schizophrenia and chronic cannabis users
Summary:
Chronic cannabis use and schizophrenia are both thought to affect reward processing. While behavioural and neural effects on incentive processing have been investigated in both populations, their interaction has not been studied, although chronic cannabis use is common among schizophrenia patients. In the present study eighty-nine participants divided into four groups (control chronic cannabis users and non-users; schizophrenia patient cannabis users and non-users) performed a two-choice decision task, preceded by incentive cues (high/low reward/punishment or neutral), while being scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Reward and punishment anticipation resulted in activation of regions of interest including the thalamus, striatum, amygdala and insula. Chronic cannabis use and schizophrenia had opposing effects on reward anticipation sensitivity. More specifically control users and patient non-users showed faster behavioural responses and increased activity in anterior/posterior insula for high magnitude cues compared to control non-users and patient users. The same interaction pattern was observed in the activation of the right thalamus for reward versus punishment cues. This study provided evidence for the interaction of chronic cannabis use and schizophrenia on reward and punishment processing and highlights the need for future research addressing the significance of this interaction for the pathophysiology of these conditions and its clinical consequences.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Psychosis, Mesolimbic pathway, Insula, Anterior, Posterior, Thalamus, Reaction time, Monetary incentive delay, Dopamine, Functional magnetic resonance imaging, Fmri, Incentive, Region of interest
Number of references:
220
