Biological expl - neural correlates

Question 1

What are neural correlates?

Answer 1

Measurements of the structure or function of the brain that occur in conjunction with an experience - in this case to see if they correlate with the symptoms of schizophrenia - both positive and negative symptoms have neural correlates

Question 2

What are the neural correlates for negative symptoms?

Answer 2

Certain areas of the ventral straitum - are believed to be responsible for motivation
Prefrontal cortex - too little dopamine associated with negative symptoms such as avolition

Question 3

What is the study for neural correlates for negative symptoms? What type of correlation is this? What does this mean?

Answer 3

Jucket et al (2006) measured activity of the ventral staitum in schizophrenics and found lower levels of activity than in control groups
This is a negative correlation, as when activity in the ventral straitum decreased the severity of negative symptoms increased
This means activity in the ventral straitum and prefrontal cortex is a neural correlate of schizophrenia

Question 4

What are the neural correlates for positive symptoms?

Answer 4

The superior temporal gyrus - seems to be responsible for hallucinations
Subcortex - too much dopamine in this area is associated with auditory hallucinations

Question 5

What is the study for neural correlates for positive symptoms? What did they find? What type of correlation is this?

Answer 5

Allen et al (2007) - scanned brains of schizophrenics who tried to distinguish between their voices and other peoples voices - they found lower activation in the superior temporal gyrus area and more errors by the schizophrenic group in comparison to control groups
This is a negative correlation and is therefore a neural correlate of auditory hallucinations