BACKGROUND Working memory (WM) impairment in schizophrenia substantially impacts functional outcome. Although the dorsolateral pFC has been implicated in such impairment, a more comprehensive examination of brain networks comprising pFC is warranted. The present research used a whole-brain, multi-experiment analysis to delineate task-related networks comprising pFC. Activity was examined in schizophrenia patients across a variety of cognitive demands. METHODS One hundred schizophrenia patients and 102 healthy controls completed one of four fMRI tasks: a Sternberg verbal WM task, a visuospatial WM task, a Stroop set-switching task, and a thought generation task (TGT). Task-related networks were identified using multi-experiment constrained PCA for fMRI. Effects of task conditions and group differences were examined using mixed-model ANOVA on the task-related time series. Correlations between task performance and network engagement were also performed. RESULTS Four spatially and temporally distinct networks with pFC activation emerged and were postulated to subserve (1) internal attention, (2) auditory-motor attention, (3) motor responses, and (4) task energizing. The "energizing" network-engaged during WM encoding and diminished in patients-exhibited consistent trend relationships with WM capacity across different data sets. The dorsolateral-prefrontal-cortex-dominated "internal attention" network exhibited some evidence of hypoactivity in patients, but was not correlated with WM performance. CONCLUSIONS Multi-experiment analysis allowed delineation of task-related, pFC-anchored networks across different cognitive constructs. Given the results with respect to the early-responding "energizing" network, WM deficits in schizophrenia may arise from disruption in the "energization" process described by Donald Stuss' model of pFC functions.

中文翻译：

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精神分裂症工作记忆基础前额叶网络的功能描述：跨数据集检查。

背景精神分裂症中的工作记忆 (WM) 损伤会显着影响功能结果。尽管背外侧 pFC 与这种损伤有关，但有必要对包含 pFC 的大脑网络进行更全面的检查。本研究使用全脑、多实验分析来描绘包含 pFC 的任务相关网络。在各种认知需求的精神分裂症患者中检查了活动。方法 100 名精神分裂症患者和 102 名健康对照完成了四项 fMRI 任务之一：Sternberg 语言 WM 任务、视觉空间 WM 任务、Stroop 设置转换任务和思维生成任务 (TGT)。使用用于 fMRI 的多实验约束 PCA 识别任务相关网络。使用混合模型方差分析对任务相关的时间序列检查任务条件和组差异的影响。还进行了任务绩效和网络参与之间的相关性。结果 出现了具有 pFC 激活的四个在空间和时间上不同的网络，并被假定用于促进 (1) 内部注意力、(2) 听觉-运动注意力、(3) 运动反应和 (4) 任务激励。在 WM 编码期间参与并在患者中减弱的“充满活力”的网络在不同数据集上与 WM 容量表现出一致的趋势关系。背外侧-前额叶-皮质主导的“内部注意”网络显示出患者活动减退的一些证据，但与 WM 表现无关。结论 多实验分析允许描述与任务相关的、跨不同认知结构的 pFC 锚定网络。鉴于早期响应“激励”网络的结果，精神分裂症中的 WM 缺陷可能是由于唐纳德·斯图斯 (Donald Stuss) 的 pFC 功能模型所描述的“激励”过程中断所致。