The neurofucntional abnormalities of temporal gyrus underly impaired sensory attenuation in schizophrenia during action-outcome contingent paradigm

Abstract

Abstract Previous research suggests that individuals with schizophrenia may exhibit impairments in sensory attenuation. This neurocognitive process is defined as reduced neural responses in sensory cortices to self-generated actions compared with externally triggered sensory inputs. However, the specific neuroimaging association between sensory attenuation deficits and schizophrenia has not been fully established. To elucidate the neuroimaging signatures of these impairments, the present study employed a modified action-outcome contingent paradigm combined with a task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging in 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 21 matched healthy controls. Participants completed voluntary (active) and experimenter-administered (passive) button-press tasks respectively, both eliciting auditory feedback, to isolate the neural correlates of sensory attenuation. Neuroimaging analysis revealed characteristic abnormalities in neural activity within the left middle temporal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus of patients. First, compared to the healthy controls, absence of activation attenuation (passive-active) was observed in these regions under active conditions. This phenomenon suggests a specific impairment in the ability to discriminate self-generated stimuli. Second, when identical auditory stimuli were passively received, significantly lower baseline activation levels within these regions were found in patients than in healthy controls. This task-specific characteristic highlights impaired detection and evaluation of environmentally driven stimuli in patients.