Negative Schizotypy Associated With Weaker Intersubject Correlation in Dynamic Functional Connectivity During Empathic Accuracy Task

Abstract

Background and hypothesis: Previous studies on Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT) suggested patients with schizophrenia exhibited altered brain activations in the precuneus, middle frontal gyrus, and thalamus. However, it remains unclear whether individuals with schizotypy would exhibit similar alterations of brain activations associated with EAT. This study aimed to examine the relationships between schizotypy and intersubject correlation (ISC) during EAT.

Study design: Forty-seven college students undertook the Chinese version of EAT in a 3T MRI scanner. The Chapman Social Anhedonia Scale (CSAS) and Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS) were used to capture negative and positive schizotypy, respectively. We adopted GLM analysis, ISC analyses of brain activation, and dynamic functional connectivity during EAT to examine its association with dimensional schizotypy and self-report empathy.

Study results: Regardless of schizotypy scores, brain activations in the middle occipital cortex, precuneus, lingual gyrus, paracentral gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were associated with participants' empathic accuracy, while strong ISC of brain activations were found in bilateral superior temporal gyri (STG). Negative schizotypy was associated with ISC of brain activation in the precentral gyrus and dynamic connectivity between the STG and ACC, both of which further mediated the associations between negative schizotypy and self-report affective empathy.

Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that weaker intersubject synchronization of brain activation in the precentral gyrus and dynamic connectivity between the STG and ACC is related to negative schizotypy. Our findings may shed light on the underlying neural mechanisms of impaired social cognition in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

Keywords: empathy; mediation effect; neural synchronization; perceptual aberration; social anhedonia.

Fig. 1.

Brain activations during the video-watching phase of the Empathic Accuracy Task (panel A) and brain activations associated with Emotional Distance (panel B) using GLM analyses. One-sample t-tests were conducted with significant threshold set at voxel-level uncorrected P < .001 and cluster-level family-wise error (FWE) corrected P < .05. Panel C: group-level r-map of the intersubject correlation (ISC) in brain activations during EAT with a threshold of r > 0.1.

Fig. 2.

Intersubject correlation of dynamic functional connectivity (ISDC) for regions of interest (ROI) defined by results of the ISC analyses (ROI1–ROI2) and GLM analyses (ROI3–ROI8) in brain activations. One-sample t-tests were conducted with significant threshold set at voxel-level uncorrected P < .001 and cluster-level family-wise error (FWE) corrected P < .05. EAT, Empathic Accuracy Task; R.STG, right superior temporal gyrus; L.STG, left superior temporal gyrus; L.MOG, left middle occipital gyrus; R.MOG, right middle occipital gyrus; L.PCU, left precuneus; R.LG, right lingual gyrus; R.PaCG, right paracentral gyrus; R.ACC, right anterior cingulate cortex.

Fig. 3.

Pearson correlation between affective empathy dimensional scores of the QCAE and the ISC of brain activation in the L.PrCG (panel A), and the ISDC between the L.STG and R.ACC (panel B). Results of the mediation effect analyses of the ISC of brain activation in the L.PrCG (panel C), as well as the ISDC between the L.STG and R.ACC (panel D) on the association between negative schizotypy and affective empathy. ISC, intersubject correlation in brain activation; ISDC, intersubject correlation in dynamic connectivity; QCAE, Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy; AE, Affective Empathy; CSAS, Chapman Social Anhedonia Scale; L.PrCG, left precentral gyrus; L.STG, left superior temporal gyrus; R.ACC, right anterior cingulate cortex.