MGH SCHIZOPHRENIA NEUROIMAGING RESEARCH LABORATORIES
MGH, Department of Psychiatry; Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Group
Stephan Heckers. M.D., Gina Kuperberg, M.D., Ph.D., Dara Manoach, Ph.D., Thilo Deckersbach, Ph.D, Anthony Weiss, M.D.
The primary goal of The MGH Schizophrenia Neuroimaging Laboratories is to elucidate the neural basis and nature of deficits in higher cognitive function in schizophrenia using a variety of techniques. These include structural and functional neuroimaging, neuropathology, ERP, MEG, behavioral and eye movement studies. It is well established that schizophrenic patients exhibit specific deficits in working memory and executive function, declarative memory and language function. These deficits are manifest by abnormal function of a widespread network of cortical and subcortical regions. The Heckers Lab studies the functional neuroanatomy of memory in schizophrenia. They have demonstrated that impaired memory function in schizophrenia is associated with abnormalities in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and thalamus and were the first to show impaired recruitment of the hippocampus during memory retrieval. Ongoing neuroimaging studies using PET, MRI, fMRI, and MEG are complemented by gene expression studies of the hippocampus to understand the cellular and anatomical basis of abnormal memory function in schizophrenia. The primary focus of the Kuperberg Lab is language and semantic processing in schizophrenia. They are using a convergence of methodologies -- experimental cognitive psychology, cognitive event-related potentials and functional neuroimaging - to study both normal language and language disturbances in schizophrenia. A particular emphasis of this Lab is the use of multimodal imaging and analytic methods that can quantitatively integrate temporal and spatial information. The goal of the Manoach Lab is to clarify the neural basis of working memory and executive function deficits in schizophrenia. The prefrontal cortex mediates cognitive processes that guide voluntary action such as working memory, the ability to inhibit reflexive actions, and the ability to switch between activities at will. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), behavioral, and eye movement studies they are examining the role of prefrontal cortex and other brain regions in these cognitive processes. The studies of all three Labs will shed light on the basic cognitive processes that may underlie many of the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Grant Support. NIMH: K23 MH01763-01(SH): Neuroimaging of hippocampal function in schizophrenia; NARSAD: (AW): Hippocampal Function in First-Degree Relatives of Patients with Schizophrenia; NIMH: K23 MH01829-02 (DM): fMRI and TMS Studies of Working Memory in Schizophrenia; NIMH: K23 PA-00-004 (GK): The cognitive neuroscience of language processing in schizophrenia; NARSAD: (GK): From context to cortex: the temporal and spatial dynamics of language processing in schizophrenia; MIND Institute (SH, GK, DM): Functional and structural neuroimaging studies of higher cognitive function in schizophrenia.
Project Sites. Dept. of Psychiatry, MGH-East, CNY-9; Dept. of Psychiatry, MGH-East, CNY-9; MGH-East MRI Center, CNY-1 (Dr. Bruce Rosen); MGH PET Lab, White 2; Neurology (Dr. David Caplan).
Contacts. Stephan Heckers, M.D., Tel.: (617) 724 6141; email: heckers@psych.mgh.harvard.edu
Gina Kuperberg, M.D., Ph.D., Tel.: (617) 726 3432; Page: 274 5656 x35692; e-mail: kuperber@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
Dara Manoach, Ph.D., Tel (617) 667-8702, email: dmanoach@caregroup.edu
Address: Department of Psychiatry, CNY, Massachusetts General Hospital-East, 149 Thirteenth Street, Charlestown, MA 02129
Training Opportunities. Please contact Drs. Heckers, Kuperberg or Manoach regarding training opportunities.
Representative Publications.
Heckers S (2001): Neuroimaging studies of the hippocampus in schizophrenia. Hippocampus 11:520-528.
Heckers S, Rauch SL, Goff D, et al (1998): Impaired recruitment of the hippocampus during conscious recollection in
schizophrenia. Nature Neuroscience 1:318-323.
Kuperberg G.R., McGuire, P.K., David A.S. (1998). Reduced sensitivity to linguistic context in schizophrenic thought
disorder: Evidence from on-line monitoring for words in incongruous sentences. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology 107: 423-434
Kuperberg, G.R., McGuire, P.K., Bullmore, E.T., Brammer, M.J., Rabe-Hesketh, S., Wright, I.C., Lythgoe, D.J.,
Williams, S.C.R., David, A.S. (2000). Common and distinct neural substrates for pragmatic, semantic, and
syntactic processing of spoken sentences: an fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 12(2): 321-341.
Manoach DS, Gollub RL, Benson E, Searl MM, Goff DC, Halpern E, Saper CB, Rauch SL: Schizophrenia subjects
recruit dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia during working memory performance as measured by
fMRI. Biological Psychiatry, 48(2): 99-109, 2000.
Manoach, DS, Halpern EF, Kramer TS, Chang Y, Goff DC, Rauch SL, Kennedy DN, & Gollub, RL: Test-retest
reliability of a functional MRI working memory paradigm in normal and schizophrenic subjects. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 158(6): 955-958, 2001.