Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia Show Association with Amygdala Volumes and Neural Activation During Affective Processing

Objectives: Negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been associated with structural and functional alterations of the amygdala. We hypothesised that there would be between-group differences in amygdala volume and neural activation patterns during processing of affective stimuli among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. We further hypothesised correlations between neuroimaging metrics and clinical ratings of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: We used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess volume and neural activation of the amygdala in 28 patients with schizophrenia and 28 healthy controls.

Results: We found no between-group differences in amygdala volume or neural activation. However, we found a significant negative correlation between emotional blunting and neural activation in the left amygdala during processing of positive affect. We also found a significant negative correlation between stereotyped thinking and the volume of right amygdala.

Conclusion: Our findings implicate the amygdala in a subgroup of negative symptoms in schizophrenia that are characterised by reduced expression with blunted affect and stereotyped thinking.