Association between subjective well-being and prefrontal function during a cognitive task in schizophrenia: A multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy study

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between subjective well-being and prefrontal function during a cognitive task in schizophrenia. Twenty-four patients with clinically stable schizophrenia participated in the study. We measured the change in hemoglobin concentration in the prefrontal region during a verbal fluency task (VFT) by using 52-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The subjective well-being of participants was assessed using the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic drug treatment Short form (SWNS). A significant positive relationship was observed between the SWNS score and frontopolar, left ventrolateral, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal function during the VFT. These results suggest that the frontopolar and left ventrolateral and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortical regions are associated with the subjective well-being of clinically stable patients with schizophrenia and that NIRS may be an efficient medical tool for monitoring these characteristics.