People with Schizophrenia Show Distinct Brain Activity When Faced With Conflicting Information

Imaging of the connections between the mediodorsal thalamus and prefrontal cortex in the human brain. Photo: Mengzing Liu / Tufts University

Researchers introduce a biomarker to indicate whether someone is struggling with the inflexible thinking associated with the disorder 

Scientists have known for decades that the classic symptoms of schizophrenia, such as jumping to conclusions or difficulty adjusting to new information, can be attributed to poor communication between the cerebral cortex and the thalamus, known as the brain’s central switchboard. By measuring brain cell activity between these two regions as volunteers completed ambiguous tasks, a team of Tufts University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine researchers found a way to use someone’s sensitivity to uncertainty as a diagnostic tool.   

In a study published November 7 in the journal Cell Reports Medicine , the researchers show that people with schizophrenia generate distinct neural patterns when asked to make decisions based on conflicting information. The work offers one of the first biological tests to assess whether someone is prone to inflexible thinking and , by monitoring changes in these patterns, a new way to measure whether treatments are working.  

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