Reduced dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation during affective Go/NoGo in violent schizophrenia patients: An fMRI study

We investigated the influence of anger processing on cognitive control in male schizophrenia patients presenting violent behaviors. We recruited 23 patients without and 24 patients with (SCZ + V) a history of violent behaviors, as well as 22 healthy non-violent men. Participants were administered an affective (angry-neutral faces) Go/NoGo task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found a reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in SCZ + V patients specifically when inhibiting a response while viewing angry faces. These results show an inability of SCZ + V to recruit a core region of the (inhibitory) cognitive control network in the context of anger.