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Published in: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 5/2008

01-08-2008 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Cerebral connectivity and psychotic personality traits

A diffusion tensor imaging study

Authors: Umberto Volpe, Andrea Federspiel, Armida Mucci, Thomas Dierks, Anders Frank, Lars-Olof Wahlund, Silvana Galderisi, Mario Maj

Published in: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience | Issue 5/2008

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between regional connectivity in the brain white matter and the presence of psychotic personality traits, in healthy subjects with psychotic traits. Thirteen healthy controls were administered the MMPI-2, to assess psychotic traits and, according to MMPI results, a dichotomization into a group of “high-psychotic” and “low-psychotic” was performed. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used as a non-invasive measure, in order to obtain information about the fractional anisotropy (FA), an intravoxel index of local connectivity and, by means of a voxelwise approach, the between-group differences of the FA values were calculated. The “high-psychotic” group showed higher FA in the left arcuate fasciculus. Subjects with low scores for psychotic traits had significantly higher FA in the corpus callosum, right arcuate fasciculus, and fronto-parietal fibers. In line with previous brain imaging studies of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, our results suggest that psychotic personality traits are related to altered connectivity and brain asymmetry.
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Metadata
Title
Cerebral connectivity and psychotic personality traits
A diffusion tensor imaging study
Authors
Umberto Volpe
Andrea Federspiel
Armida Mucci
Thomas Dierks
Anders Frank
Lars-Olof Wahlund
Silvana Galderisi
Mario Maj
Publication date
01-08-2008
Publisher
D. Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience / Issue 5/2008
Print ISSN: 0940-1334
Electronic ISSN: 1433-8491
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0796-1

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