The relationship between ambivalence, alexithymia, and salience network dysfunction in schizophrenia

Abstract

Ambivalence in schizophrenia is worth investigating its association with salience processing and alexithymia using functional MRI. Twenty-two patients with schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls were scanned during the ambivalence task of matching picture (ambivalent, positive and negative) and word (positive and negative) stimuli, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) was rated. Patients exhibited decreased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula compared to controls, and ACC activity in the ambivalent condition was negatively correlated with the TAS score in patients. Ambivalence in schizophrenia may be based on salience network dysfunction, and this disturbance may be related to alexithymia.