Korean J Schizophr Res.  2015 Apr;18(1):35-42. 10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.35.

A Study on the Neurobiological Basis of Communicative Intelligence Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

• Kim J
• Yoon SA
• Park HJ

• KMID: 2288316
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.35

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
To develop reliable tools for measuring communication skills in schizophrenia, the present study proposed the concept of communication intelligence, consisting of conversational competence, emotional competence, and empathic competence, and explored its neurobiological underpinnings using regional gray matter volume with healthy people.
METHODS
Communicative intelligence scores were obtained from 126 healthy young participants. Correlation analyses between regional volume distributions and communication intelligence subcomponents were conducted using voxel-based morphometry of structural MRI.
RESULTS
The significant positive correlations between the regional gray matter volumes with conversational competence were found mainly at the ventromedial frontal gyrus while the negative correlations between the bilateral middle frontal gyrus. With emotional competence, the volume of right superior temporal gyrus was positively and that of bilateral insula was negatively correlated. With empathic competence, the volume of the left middle frontal gyrus was positively and that of the insula was negatively correlated.
CONCLUSION
Each of the subcomponents of communicative intelligence scores showed distinctive neurobiological underpinnings. The regions for the subcomponents, which constitute a common network for social cognition and emotion, are highly associated with the regions of the schizophrenia pathology. In conclusion, communicative intelligence scales have neurobiological basis to evaluate social skills of patients with schizophrenia.

Keyword

Communicative intelligence; Voxel-based morphometry; Conversational competence; Emotional competence; Empathic competence; Schizophrenia

MeSH Terms

Cognition
Humans
Intelligence*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Mental Competency
Pathology
Schizophrenia
Weights and Measures

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Statistical results of correlation analysis between regional gray matter volumes and communicative intelligence. Significantly correlated volume regions with conversational competence, emotional competence and empathic competence are presented in three-dimensional rendering and representative slice views. Red and blue color blobs show positive and negative correlations with communicative intelligence scales. p＜0.005 with cluster size ＞73, corresponding to multiple testing corrected p＜0.05, were displayed. A : Conversational competence. B : Emotional competence. C : Empathic competence

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