Cited by 24Schizophrenia research and treatmentNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Negative symptoms, striatal dopamine and model-free reward decision-making in schizophrenia

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Brandl, Felix, Knolle, Franziska, Avram, Mihai, Leucht, Claudia, Yakushev, Igor, Priller, Josef, Leucht, Stefan, Ziegler, Sibylle +2 more·2023·Brain

Abstract

Negative symptoms, such as lack of motivation or social withdrawal, are highly prevalent and debilitating in patients with schizophrenia. Underlying mechanisms of negative symptoms are incompletely understood, thereby preventing the development of targeted treatments. We hypothesized that in patients with schizophrenia during psychotic remission, impaired influences of both model-based and model-free reward predictions on decision-making (‘reward prediction influence’, RPI) underlie negative symptoms. We focused on psychotic remission, because psychotic symptoms might confound reward-based decision-making. Moreover, we hypothesized that impaired model-based/model-free RPIs depend on alterations of both associative striatum dopamine synthesis and storage (DSS) and executive functioning. Both factors influence RPI in healthy subjects and are typically impaired in schizophrenia. Twenty-five patients with schizophrenia with pronounced negative symptoms during psychotic remission and 24 healthy controls were included in the study. Negative symptom severity was measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative subscale, model-based/model-free RPI by the two-stage decision task, associative striatum DSS by 18F-DOPA positron emission tomography and executive functioning by the symbol coding task. Model-free RPI was selectively reduced in patients and associated with negative symptom severity as well as with reduced associative striatum DSS (in patients only) and executive functions (both in patients and controls). In contrast, model-based RPI was not altered in patients. Results provide evidence for impaired model-free reward prediction influence as a mechanism for negative symptoms in schizophrenia as well as for reduced associative striatum dopamine and executive dysfunction as relevant factors. Data suggest potential treatment targets for patients with schizophrenia and pronounced negative symptoms.

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  1. Orellana G, Slachevsky A. Executive functioning in schizophre- nia. Front Psychiatry 2013;4:35.
  2. Murray GK, Corlett PR, Clark L, et al. Substantia nigra/ventral tegmental reward prediction error disruption in psychosis. Mol Psychiatry. 2008;13:239, 267-276.
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Authors
Brandl, F., Knolle, F., Avram, M., Leucht, C., Yakushev, I., Priller, J., Leucht, S., Ziegler, S., Wunderlich, K., & Sorg, C.
Affiliations
  • Technical University of Munich (DE)
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • University of Lübeck (DE)
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Corresponding author
Brandl, Felix
Venue
Brain
Published
2022-07-25
Volume
146
Issue
2
Pages
767-777
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
OpenAlex
W4287218996
Cited by
24
References
87
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4
FWCI
3.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • mediaTUM – the media and publications repository of the Technical University Munich (Technical University Munich) (submittedVersion)
  • DZNE Pub (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Else Kröner Memorial Stipendium
  • Hans und Klementia Langmatz Foundation
  • European Union’s Horizon 2020 (754462)
  • German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01ER0803)
  • German Research Council (SO1336/7)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
schizophrenia, negative symptoms, striatal dopamine, executive dysfunction, reward-based decision-making, 18F-DOPA PET
MeSH terms
Dopamine, Humans, Psychotic Disorders, Reward, Schizophrenia, Tomography, X-Ray Computed

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