Integrating visual and auditory information during gesture-speech integration (GSI) is important for successful social communication, which is often impaired in schizophrenia. Several studies suggested the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) to be a relevant multisensory integration site. However, intact STS activation patterns were often reported in patients. Thus, here we used Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) to analyze whether information processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) is impaired during GSI on network level. We investigated GSI in three different samples. First, we replicated a recently published connectivity model for GSI in a healthy subject group (n = 19). Second, we investigated differences between patients with SSD and a matched healthy control group (n = 17 each). Participants were presented videos of an actor performing intrinsically meaningful gestures accompanied by spoken sentences in German or Russian, or just telling a German sentence without gestures. Across all groups, fMRI analyses revealed similar activation patterns, and DCM analyses resulted in the same winning model for GSI. This finding directly replicates previous results. However, patients revealed significantly reduced connectivity in the verbal pathway (from left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) to left STS). The clinical significance of this connection is supported by its correlations with the severity of concretism and a subscale of negative symptoms (SANS). Our model confirms the importance of the pSTS as integration site during audio-visual integration. Patients showed generally intact connectivity during GSI, but revealed impaired information transfer via the verbal pathway. This might be the basis of interpersonal communication problems in patients with SSD.

中文翻译：

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动态因果模型表明精神分裂症谱系障碍患者在手势-语音整合过程中的有效连接受损

在手势语音集成 (GSI) 过程中整合视觉和听觉信息对于成功的社交交流很重要，而这在精神分裂症中通常会受到损害。几项研究表明后上颞沟 (pSTS) 是一个相关的多感觉整合部位。然而，在患者中经常报告完整的 STS 激活模式。因此，在这里我们使用动态因果模型 (DCM) 来分析在网络级别的 GSI 期间精神分裂症谱系障碍 (SSD) 中的信息处理是否受到损害。我们在三个不同的样本中研究了 GSI。首先，我们在健康受试者组（n = 19）中复制了最近发布的 GSI 连接模型。其次，我们调查了 SSD 患者与匹配的健康对照组（各 n = 17）之间的差异。参与者会看到演员表演本质上有意义的手势的视频，并伴有德语或俄语的口语句子，或者只是在没有手势的情况下说出德语句子。在所有组中，fMRI 分析揭示了相似的激活模式，DCM 分析得出了相同的 GSI 获胜模型。这一发现直接复制了之前的结果。然而，患者的言语通路（从左侧颞中回 (MTG) 到左侧 STS）的连接性显着降低。这种联系的临床意义得到了它与具体化严重程度和阴性症状量表 (SANS) 的相关性的支持。我们的模型证实了 pSTS 在视听集成过程中作为集成站点的重要性。患者在 GSI 期间表现出普遍完整的连接，但揭示了通过口头途径的信息传递受损。这可能是 SSD 患者人际沟通问题的基础。