Cognitive functions relating to aberrant interactions between task-positive and task-negative networks: Resting fMRI study of patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Brain functional connectivity in the resting-state represents intrinsic functional states and correlates with cognitive performance. In patients with schizophrenia, reports on the relationships between forms of functional disconnectivity in local areas and cognitive disability have used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Meanwhile, cognitive deficits in relation to inter-network forms of functional connectivity on a large scale are not well understood. This study examines cognitive functions in relation to the number of resting-state inter-network forms of functional connectivity focusing on task-positive networks (fronto-parietal network [FPN] and cingulo-opercular network [CON]) and task-negative network (default mode network [DMN]). We compare patients with schizophrenia (SCH group) and healthy controls (HC group). We conducted a functional network analysis by applying graph theory and evaluated cognitive functions using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia. The number of forms of functional connectivity between FPN and DMN and between CON and DMN were significantly higher in SCH group than in HC group, and those in SCH group were also weakly correlated with their attention scores. It is suggested that fewer than typical functional segregations between task-positive and task-negative networks in SCH group relate to inefficient distribution of cognitive resources and low attentional abilities.

Keywords:

• Attention
• cognitive function
• fMRI
• neural network
• schizophrenia

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the many participants included in our study. We thank Benjamin Phillis from Wakayama Medical University for proofreading and editing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Research data are not shared.