Structural Abnormalities

Question 1

What are the 3 main focuses in structural abnormalities?

Answer 1

Enlarged ventricles,
Cortical atrophy,
Reversed cerebral asymmetry.

Question 2

What are ventricles?

Answer 2

Cavities that produce and transport cerebrospinal fluid.

Question 3

Why is cerebrospinal fluid important?

Answer 3

It provides protection, buoyancy, and chemical stability to the brain and spine.

Question 4

How many ventricles are in the brain?

Answer 4

4

Question 5

Where are the 4 ventricles situated in the brain?

Answer 5

The left and right lateral ventricles - in the frontal, occipital, and temporal lobes,
Third ventricle between the left and right thalamus,
Fourth ventricle between the pons and medulla oblongata.

Question 6

In some individuals with schizophrenia, what are the ventricles like?

Answer 6

The ventricles seem to be larger than those in individuals without schizophrenia.

Question 7

What did Daniel Weinberger et al. (1979) say?

Answer 7

Ventricular size was greater in a group of 58 individuals with chronic schizophrenia than the 56 in the control group of people with no symptoms of schizophrenia.

Question 8

What type of scans are used for this explanation?

Answer 8

CAT scans.

Question 9

What did Nancy Andreasen (1988) study?

Answer 9

MRI scans of individuals with and without schizophrenia and found that those with schizophrenia had ventricles 20% to 50% larger than in control groups.

Question 10

What does ‘cortical atrophy’ mean?

Answer 10

The loss of neurons in the cerebral cortex.

Question 11

Where can cortical atrophy occur?

Answer 11

All over the brain, and atrophy can be focused in a limited area.

Question 12

What does the atrophy affect?

Answer 12

The cognitive functions of the cerebral cortex.

Question 13

What does the atrophy result in?

Answer 13

Widening the grooves covering the cerebral cortex, this damage characterises the brains of 20% of people with chronic schizophrenia.

Question 14

What did Antonio Vita et al. (1988) do?

Answer 14

Used CAT scans to assess 124 individuals with schizophrenia and 45 in the control group. They found that 33% of the individuals with schizophrenia showed moderate to severe atrophy. Atrophy was found to be related to sex (male) and ventricular enlargement.

Question 15

What is cerebral asymmetry?

Answer 15

The left hemisphere is larger than the right hemisphere in most individuals without schizophrenia.

Question 16

What is reversed cerebral asymmetry?

Answer 16

The right hemisphere is larger than the left hemisphere in most individuals with schizophrenia.

Question 17

What is found in the left hemisphere, and what could damage to this lead to?

Answer 17

Language function, leading to alogia.

Question 18

What did Daniel Luchins et al. (1979) do?

Answer 18

Compare, using CAT scans, 80 right handed people without schizophrenia to 57 right handed people with schizophrenia. They found that there was an increase in the frequency of ‘reversals’ in the frontal and occipital lobes of those with schizophrenia with no other form of atrophy

Question 19

What did Robert McCarley (1999) claim?

Answer 19

The presence of enlarged ventricles is the most reliable finding research using brain scans.

Question 20

Flashman and Green (2004)

Answer 20

Link between cortical atrophy and schizophrenia has been confirmed.

Question 21

What did McCarley et al suggest?

Answer 21

Factors such as age and sex have a big influence on the pattern of brain abnormalities, suggesting we need to acknowledge more subtle differences.

Question 22

Cause or effect issue

Answer 22

Like dopamine hypothesis, it is unclear whether structural abnormalities are a cause or effect.

Question 23

Kenneth Lyon et al (1981)

Answer 23

As doses of antipsychotics increased, density of brain tissue decreased, suggesting the medication causes some abnormality.

Question 24

Paul Roy et al (1998)

Answer 24

Individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar have enlarged ventricles, both having overlapping symptoms and similar structural abnormalities.

Question 25

What could brain scans change in diagnosis?

Answer 25

As they improve, diagnosis becomes more reliant on scans, indicating structural abnormalities rather than behaviours.

Question 26

What are the 2 causes of structural abnormalities?

Answer 26

Neurodevelopmental factors (exposure during early development) and neurodegenerative factors (progressive brain changes)

Question 27

Mathalon et al (2003)

Answer 27

Results from a combination of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative.

Question 28

How might neurodevelopmental factors affect schizophrenia?

Answer 28

Making individuals more vulnerable to neurodegenerative processes later in life.