People with Psychotic-Like Experiences Spend Less Time in Healthy Brain States

Summary: According to researchers, healthy people who experience subtle symptoms of psychotic disorders, such as hallucinations, have altered brain dynamics.

Source: Elsevier.

Healthy people experiencing subtle symptoms observed in psychotic disorders, such as hallucinations and delusions, have altered brain dynamics, according to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The alterations were found in patterns of brain activity that reoccur, or “states” that the brain moves in and out of over time. The participants who reported the psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) — considered to be at the low end of the psychosis spectrum — spent less time in a brain state reflecting healthier brain network activity.

Previous studies of PLEs have found alterations in specific brain networks, but the findings reveal that it is not just about damaged connections — the amount of time spent in uncommon brain states may contribute to psychosis.

“These altered brain dynamics are important because they provide a new biomarker for subclinical psychosis,” said Dr. Anita Barber of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, first author of the study. The participants were all considered healthy, yet their subtle symptoms demonstrated unique brain fluctuations that could potentially be used to identify signs of psychosis.

In the study, Dr. Barber and colleagues analyzed brain imaging data from the Human Connectome Project of 76 otherwise healthy participants reporting PLEs and 153 control participants. Those experiencing PLEs spent less time in a more “typical” reoccurring brain state involving cognitive networks. They also spent more time in a state characterized by excessive communication in visual regions of the brain, which could be the basis for visual hallucinations experienced in psychosis. The study didn’t include people with a psychotic disorder, but the findings line up with brain alterations found in patients with schizophrenia.

According to Dr. Cameron Carter, Editor of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, the study is an important example of how more sophisticated approaches to analyzing brain imaging data examining transitions between mental states over time can measure altered brain dynamics that can identify subtle risk states or even track the transition from subclinical to clinical psychopathology.

Previous studies of PLEs have found alterations in specific brain networks, but the findings reveal that it is not just about damaged connections — the amount of time spent in uncommon brain states may contribute to psychosis. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

“This has implications for improving health and well-being and for preventing conversion to a psychotic disorder,” said Dr. Barber. PLEs affect many more people than the number who will be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, and can cause impairments in social and occupational functioning similar to, though less severe than, those experienced by people with psychosis. “The findings suggest that therapies encouraging greater engagement of goal-directed behaviors and less engagement of visual sensory processing could improve outcomes,” said Dr. Barber.

Source: Rhiannon Bugno – Elsevier
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Dynamic Functional Connectivity States Reflecting Psychotic-Like Experiences” by Anita D. Barber, Martin A. Lindquist, Pamela DeRosse, Katherine H. Karlsgodt in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Published online September 28 2017 doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.09.008

Abstract

Dynamic Functional Connectivity States Reflecting Psychotic-Like Experiences

Background

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are associated with lower social and occupational functioning, and lower executive function. Emerging evidence also suggests that PLEs reflect neural dysfunction resembling that of psychotic disorders.

Methods

The present study examined dynamic connectivity related to a measure of PLEs derived from the Achenbach Adult Self-Report, in an otherwise-healthy sample of adults from the Human Connectome Project. 76 PLE-endorsing and 153 control participants were included in the final sample. To characterize network dysfunction, dynamic connectivity states were examined across large-scale resting-state networks using Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) and k-means clustering.

Results

Three dynamic states were identified. The PLE-endorsing group spent more time than controls in State 1, a state reflecting hyper-connectivity within Visual regions and hypo-connectivity within the Default Mode Network, and less time in State 2, a state characterized by robust within-network connectivity for all networks and strong Default Mode Network anti-correlations. Within the PLE-endorsing group, worse Executive Function was associated with more time spent in and more transitions into State 1 and less time spent in and fewer transitions into State 3.

Conclusions

PLEs are associated with altered large-scale brain dynamics, which tip the system away from spending more time in states reflecting more “typical” connectivity patterns toward more time in states reflecting Visual hyper-connectivity and Default Mode hypo-connectivity.

“Dynamic Functional Connectivity States Reflecting Psychotic-Like Experiences” by Anita D. Barber, Martin A. Lindquist, Pamela DeRosse, Katherine H. Karlsgodt in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Published online September 28 2017 doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.09.008