Neural correlates of social cognition in populations at risk of psychosis: A systematic review

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 108; pp. 94 - 111
• Main Authors: Kozhuharova, P., Saviola, F., Ettinger, U., Allen, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnostic imaging; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology; Disease Susceptibility - complications; Disease Susceptibility - diagnostic imaging; Disease Susceptibility - physiopathology; Functional neuroimaging; Humans; Psychosis; Psychotic Disorders - complications; Psychotic Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Psychotic Disorders - physiopathology; Risk; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - diagnostic imaging; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - complications; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - diagnostic imaging; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - physiopathology; Social Cognition; Systematic review; ACC; vlPFC; STG; vmPFC; Risk; Systematic review; IFG; PFC; OFC; TPJ; Social cognition; Psychosis; PCC; mPFC; STS; SFG; dlPFC; dmPFC; Functional neuroimaging
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.010

•At-risk populations have abnormal neural (but not behavioural) response to social cognition.•Schizotypy samples present with a tendency towards increased activity in frontal cortex.•Clinical high-risk is associated with increased frontal and cingulate cortices activity.•Consistently, all clinical high-risk studies report increased temporal cortex activity.•Clinical high-risk is associated with abnormal neural response to emotionally neutral stimuli. Social cognition refers to the mental operations governing social interactions. Recent research has highlighted the importance of social cognition in determining functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia and in psychosis risk populations. The aim of this review is to investigate the neural correlates of social cognition in different psychosis risk populations, potentially representing different levels of risk i.e. high schizotypy (SR), familial risk (FR) and clinical high risk (CHR). PsychINFO, Web of Science and PubMed were systematically searched, and 39 papers were included in the final review. Results in FR samples were highly inconclusive. In SR samples, findings showed a tendency towards increased task related activity in frontal cortex regions. The most consistent results come from CHR samples, where findings suggest increased task related activity in frontal and cingulate cortices. Interestingly, all studies of CHR populations also report increased activity in temporal cortex and abnormal response to neutral stimuli during emotional processing tasks. These findings are discussed in relation to dopamine models of psychosis due to temporal cortex abnormality.