精神分裂癥患者的面孔情緒知覺一直是研究者感興趣的一個領(lǐng)域。腦成像研究表明,，精神分裂癥病人在加工情緒面孔時,，一些腦區(qū)激活異常。然而,，不同研究之間并未得到一致的結(jié)論,。最近，心理所博士生李會杰在其導(dǎo)師陳楚僑研究員的帶領(lǐng)下,，完成了精神分裂癥患者面孔情緒加工的元分析研究,。
在最新研究中，中科院陳楚僑課題組采用了一種自動化的體素取向（voxel-wise）技術(shù)——激活可能性估計（activation likelihood estimation,，ALE）,，為病人面孔情緒加工的腦機(jī)制研究提供了客觀、量化的評估,。共有17項研究,，包括257個病人、241個正?？刂平M納入了這項元分析,。通過使用GingerALE軟件，研究者獲取了不同研究報告激活點的概率分布定位,，并最終獲得了激活可能性估計圖（ALE maps）,。
研究者對病人、健康控制組以及二者之間的對比等各種條件均做了單獨(dú)的元分析,。此外,，研究者還針對內(nèi)隱/外顯情緒知覺任務(wù)以及慢性病人做了二級的元分析。當(dāng)加工情緒面孔的時候,，病人和健康控制組雙側(cè)杏仁核和右側(cè)梭狀回均得到了激活,，然而，病人的激活程度普遍要小一些,。與健康控制組進(jìn)行直接對比的元分析發(fā)現(xiàn),，病人的雙側(cè)杏仁核、海馬旁回,、梭狀回,，右側(cè)前額葉以及豆?fàn)詈说募せ铒@著減弱，而左側(cè)腦島只在病人群體中發(fā)現(xiàn)了激活,。
不管在內(nèi)隱還是外顯情緒知覺任務(wù)中,，病人的杏仁核均未得到有效激活。同時,，在外顯情緒知覺任務(wù)中,，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)梭狀回的激活是存在明顯差異的,。專門對慢性病人進(jìn)行的二級元分析也得出了類似的結(jié)果。該研究表明精神分裂癥病人在加工情緒面孔時是存在顯著的大腦激活異常的,。在加工情緒面孔時,，精神分裂癥患者在杏仁核，以及更廣泛的腦區(qū),，包括顳葉腹側(cè)-基底節(jié)-前額葉皮質(zhì)構(gòu)成的“社會腦”系統(tǒng)激活顯著弱于控制組,。上述神經(jīng)環(huán)路的激活異常，可能是病人加工情緒面孔存在困難的主要原因,。為了改善病人的生活技能,，陳楚僑課題組擬打算對導(dǎo)致病人加工靜態(tài)社會刺激異常的神經(jīng)環(huán)路進(jìn)行深入研究。
該項工作受到了心理所百人計劃啟動經(jīng)費(fèi),、中國科學(xué)院知識創(chuàng)新工程重要方向性項目,、國家自然科學(xué)基金及973國家重點基礎(chǔ)研究發(fā)展計劃的資助。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn190
Facial Emotion Processing in Schizophrenia: A Meta-analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Data
Huijie Li24, Raymond C.K. Chan13,5, Grainne M. McAlonan5,6 and Qi-yong Gong7
2 Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
3 Key Laboratory of Mental Health
4 Graduate School, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
5 Department of Psychiatry
6 State Key Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
7 Huaxi MR Research Centre, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital/West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Background: People with schizophrenia have difficulty with emotion perception. Functional imaging studies indicate regional brain activation abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia when processing facial emotion. However, findings have not been entirely consistent across different studies. Methods: Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted to examine brain activation during facial emotion processing in patients with schizophrenia, controls, and patients compared with controls. Secondary meta-analyses were performed to assess the contribution of task design and illness chronicity to the results reported. Results: When processing facial expressions of emotions, both patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls activated the bilateral amygdala and right fusiform gyri. However, the extent of activation in these regions was generally much more limited in the schizophrenia samples. When directly compared with controls, the extent of activation in bilateral amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus and fusiform gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and lentiform nucleus was significantly less in patients. Patients with schizophrenia, but not controls, activated the left insula. A relative failure to recruit the amygdala in patients occurred regardless of whether the task design was explicit or implicit, while differences in fusiform activation were evident in explicit, not implicit, tasks. Restricting the analysis to patients with chronic illness did not substantially change the results. Conclusions: A marked underrecruitment of the amygdala, accompanied by a substantial limitation in activation throughout a ventral temporal-basal ganglia-prefrontal cortex "social brain" system may be central to the difficulties patients experience when processing facial emotion.
