An fMRI study to explore neural activity of praecox feeling

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K15525
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 52030:Psychiatry-related
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Kikuchi Toshiaki 慶應義塾大学, 医学部(信濃町), 講師 (20365373)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: プレコックス感 / fMRI

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In creating the Precox task, video data were collected from schizophrenic patients who were inpatients and outpatients, and from healthy subjects who were matched for age group and gender and who had no history of psychiatric disorders. Videos were collected from 5 patients with schizophrenia and 10 healthy subjects, and it was possible for doctors to discriminate almost 100% between both participants. Several things were considered, including switching from video to still images, inserting images such as inversions, and processing the background. We attempted fMRI imaging of the modified task, but no activation other than in brain regions related to decision making was obtained, at least under the limited conditions in which it was performed.

Free Research Field

fMRI

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の今後については、サンプルの増加や、単純に人数を増加させるだけでなくAt risk mental healthの状態にある患者など判断に葛藤を生じさせるような群のリクルートを行い、一定の反応時間を要する課題を作成する必要がある。さらにより重要なことは、本研究の目的は顔貌などから疾患を推定することではなく、医師側に生じる不確実感を明らかにすることであり、当初の将来的な目的の１つに掲げている客観的な診断技術への応用という観点は除外すべきである。患者の人権を守り、stigmaを助長させるものではないことを強調していく必要がある。