Neural correlates of disturbance in the sense of agency in schizophrenia: An fMRI study using the 'enfacement' paradigm.

An altered sense of self-awareness and agency has been proposed to underlie symptoms of schizophrenia. In this study, we used the enfacement illusion paradigm - in which perception of another person's face leads to changes in perception of one's own peri-personal space - to examine the brain correlates of the sense of agency and its potential disruption in schizophrenia. Thirty-three schizophrenic patients and 27 healthy controls underwent fMRI scanning during performance of a task designed to elicit the enfacement illusion.

Examining hippocampal function in schizophrenia using a virtual reality spatial navigation task.

Background: Structural pathology in the hippocampus is well-documented in schizophrenia, but brain functional changes have not been consistently found. We used spatial navigation in a virtual reality environment, a task that is known to produce robust hippocampal activation in healthy subjects, to examine task-related activations and de-activations in the disorder.

Methods: Twenty-seven DSM IV schizophrenia patients and 32 healthy controls underwent fMRI while they navigated to a goal through a virtual reality town.