J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2006 May;45(3):191-198.

Brain Regions Associated with Ambivalence in Healthy Adults: A PET Correlation Study

• Jung YC
• Seok JH
• Chun J
• Lee JD
• Park HJ
• Kim JJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The present study investigated the brain regions that correlate with ambivalence in schizotypy, a latent personality organization that is proposed to precede and contribute to the liability of developing schizophrenia.
METHODS
Using 18-FDG PET scan, we investigated the brain activity of twenty one normal healthy subjects during the resting state. Questionnaires, including the Korean Version of Schizotypal Ambivalence Scale (K-SAS), were administrated after the scan in order to assess the self-rated individual differences in ambivalence.
RESULTS
The Schzotypal Ambivalence Scale (SAS) scores showed positive correlation with the metabolic rates in the left parahippocampal gyrus and the fornix. In contrast, the Ambivalence over Expression of Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ) scores showed negative correlation with the metabolic rates in the right putamen. Although scores of the two ambivalence scales correlated positively (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.477, p<0.050), there was no substantial overlap between the neural correlates.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that the hippocampal complex, which dysfunction has been reported to correlate with impaired information processing in schizophrenia, may underlie schizotypal ambivalence.

Keyword

18F-FDG PET; Schizotypal ambivalence; Hippocampus

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Automatic Data Processing
Brain*
Hippocampus
Humans
Individuality
Parahippocampal Gyrus
Positron-Emission Tomography
Putamen
Surveys and Questionnaires
Schizophrenia
Statistics as Topic*
Weights and Measures