Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia showed reduced positive functional connectivity of the CEF, specifically in the right hemisphere, during the performance of volitional saccades. In both groups, the CEFs showed positive functional connectivity with premotor and ocular motor regions, including the frontal eye field and the posterior parietal cortex. This pattern of connectivity is similar to that observed in a previous study that placed seeds in posterior dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Margulies
et al.,
2007), and is consistent with the putative role of this region in providing top-down control of structures generating ocular motor responses (Johnston
et al.,
2007). Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the frontal eye field and posterior parietal cortex are the key cortical components of the right hemisphere dominant network for spatial attention (Mesulam,
1981,
1990; Gitelman
et al.,
1999) and volitional ocular motor control, which are tightly linked (Klein and McCormick,
1989; Corbetta and Shulman,
2002; Hunt and Kingstone,
2003; Moore
et al.,
2003), with the paralimbic anterior cingulate cortex providing a map of motivational salience. In schizophrenia, reduced connectivity of this network might compromise inter-regional communication and thereby contribute to deficits on tasks requiring volitional ocular motor control, a consistent finding in the schizophrenia literature (Gooding and Basso,
2008). The finding of a selective reduction of right CEF positive functional connectivity complements our prior observation of reduced microstructural integrity of the white matter underlying the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Manoach
et al.,
2007a). Together, these findings, along with those of prior studies showing abnormal dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation during volitional saccades in schizophrenia (Crawford
et al.,
1996; Camchong
et al.,
2008; Polli
et al.,
2008), suggest that functional and structural abnormalities of the right CEF disrupt connectivity and function in the network for spatial attention and volitional ocular motor control in schizophrenia.
Unlike the other cortical components of the ocular motor network (i.e. frontal, parietal, and supplementary eye fields, McDowell and Clementz,
2001), there is abundant evidence of structural abnormalities of the anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia. In addition to grey matter reductions (Ohnuma
et al.,
1997; Goldstein
et al.,
1999; Sigmundsson
et al.,
2001; Suzuki
et al.,
2002; Kuperberg
et al.,
2003; Ha
et al.,
2004; Yamasue
et al.,
2004; Mitelman
et al.,
2005), there are reports of reduced fractional anisotropy of the cingulum bundle (Agartz
et al.,
2001; Ardekani
et al.,
2003; although for negative reports see, Buchsbaum
et al.,
1998; Foong
et al.,
2002; Burns
et al.,
2003; Kubicki
et al.,
2003; Sun
et al.,
2003; Wang
et al.,
2004; Hao
et al.,
2006), and volume reductions in the white matter underlying anterior cingulate cortex (McDonald
et al.,
2005; Mitelman
et al.,
2005). There is histopathological evidence of disturbances in micro- and macrocircuitry that might alter communication between the anterior cingulate cortex and connected regions (Benes,
1993,
2000)
. The anterior cingulate cortex is comprised of several subregions with distinct cytoarchitecture, patterns of connectivity and contributions to cognition (Devinsky
et al.,
1995; Bush
et al.,
1998;
2000; Whalen
et al.,
1998; Margulies
et al.,
2007). Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex contributes to the performance volitional saccades in healthy individuals (Polli
et al.,
2005), while showing abnormal activity in patients with schizophrenia (Polli
et al.,
2008) and their unaffected relatives (Camchong
et al.,
2008). The present findings add to this literature by demonstrating a specifically localized and lateralized abnormality of anterior cingulate cortex functional connectivity which, along with the prior diffusion tensor imaging findings (Manoach
et al.,
2007a), suggests functional and structural dysconnectivity in a distributed network for spatial attention and volitional ocular motor control.
The reductions of right CEF functional connectivity in schizophrenia were most pronounced in the left thalamus, right pre-supplementary motor area and right anterior insula. The thalamus did not show significant functional connectivity with CEF in the combined group data, but is known to project to dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Vogt
et al.,
1979). The pre-supplementary motor area and anterior insula, which both showed positive functional connectivity with CEF in the combined group data, receive projections from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Pandya
et al.,
1981; Morecraft
et al.,
1993). Anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortices are hypothesized to be components of a right hemisphere dominant network that re-orients attention to behaviourally relevant events (Corbetta and Shulman,
2002). The pre-supplementary motor area, which borders the supplementary eye field and CEFs (Nachev
et al.,
2008), is thought to contribute to volitional ocular motor control. Activation of the pre-supplementary motor area has been associated with volitional rather than exogenously generated action (Nachev
et al.,
2008) and with switching responses during eye movement paradigms (Isoda and Hikosaka,
2007). It shows greater preparatory activation in response to cues to perform an antisaccade compared with prosaccade (Curtis and D'E;sposito,
2003) and right pre-supplementary motor area has been shown to have greater functional connectivity with the frontal eye field during the performance of antisaccades compared with prosaccades (Miller
et al.,
2005). Based on this evidence, the pre-supplementary motor area is theorized to interact with ocular motor structures to establish a preparatory set when higher level cognitive control is required (Curtis and D'E;sposito,
2003; Miller
et al.,
2005). Thus, reduced connectivity between the right CEF and both the right anterior insula and right pre-supplementary motor area in schizophrenia may contribute to poorer performance on tasks that require one to reorient spatial attention and eye gaze volitionally.
In our prior diffusion tensor imaging study, reduced fractional anisotropy underlying the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, as well as lower fractional anisotropy in frontal eye field, and posterior parietal cortex of the right hemisphere predicted longer latencies of volitional saccades in schizophrenia (Manoach
et al.,
2007a). These relations suggest that abnormally reduced microstructural integrity of the white matter underlying dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia compromised network connectivity, thereby contributing to slower performance of volitional saccades. Based on this finding, we predicted that reduced positive functional connectivity of the right CEF in schizophrenia would also be associated with prolonged saccadic latencies. This prediction was not borne out. Instead, negative functional connectivity (i.e. anti-correlations) of the right CEF predicted faster latencies of both prosaccades and antisaccades, but this relation differed by group and was only present in controls. Since the negative mask primarily comprised default network regions, this relation may reflect a reciprocal relationship between activation in the ocular motor and default networks that optimizes performance. This interpretation is compatible with the current theory of default network function and with activation findings using a range of cognitive tasks, including the saccadic paradigm of the present study.
Default network regions commonly show deactivation during task performance (Shulman
et al.,
1997; Binder
et al.,
1999; Mazoyer
et al.,
2001; Raichle
et al.,
2001; Buckner
et al.,
2008). Using the same saccadic paradigm employed here, we previously reported that correct antisaccade trials were accompanied by task-induced deactivation of default network regions and error trials were marked by a failure of task-induced deactivation in healthy individuals (Polli
et al.,
2005). Coincident with task-induced deactivation, the CEFs showed increased activation during correct trials, which in the right hemisphere, correlated with a lower antisaccade error rate. These fMRI findings support the hypothesis that a reciprocal pattern of activation between default network regions and the right CEF optimizes the performance of volitional saccades. Similar reciprocal patterns of activation between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and default network regions have been reported during a range of cognitive tasks (Drevets and Raichle,
1998; Bush
et al.,
2000).
In the present study, patients differed significantly from controls in that the relations of negative functional connectivity with saccadic latency were absent. They also differed significantly in the asymmetry of negative functional connectivity of the CEF, with controls showing significant rightward asymmetry and patients showing a trend towards leftward asymmetry. These findings suggest that the coordination of activity between the right hemisphere dominant ocular motor control network and the default network is important for efficient task performance and is disrupted in schizophrenia. These findings resonate with existing evidence of abnormalities of default network function during task performance in schizophrenia patients (Garrity
et al.,
2007; Kim
et al.,
2009) and their relatives, including reduced suppression of default network activity during working memory that predicted less accurate performance and reduced negative functional connectivity of the default network with lateral prefrontal cortex (Whitfield-Gabrieli
et al.,
2009).
Several methodological limitations and alternative conceptualizations of our findings merit consideration. First, our schizophrenia sample was limited to patients with chronic exposure to anti-psychotic medications. Dopaminergic medications have been found to modulate fMRI measures of cortico–striato–thalamic functional connectivity, with the anti-psychotic sulpiride increasing functional connectivity (Honey
et al.,
2003). While it would be difficult to account for such lateralized functional findings (and structural findings in the prior report, Manoach
et al.,
2007a) on the basis of medications, and statistically controlling for dosage as measured by chloropromazine equivalents did not alter the findings, the effects of anti-psychotic medications on functional connectivity are still largely unknown and we cannot exclude the possibility that medications contributed to our findings.
In addition, we failed to support our prediction, based on diffusion tensor imaging findings (Manoach
et al.,
2007a), that like reduced fractional anisotropy in the dorsal anterior cingulate white matter, reduced positive functional connectivity of the right CEF in schizophrenia would also be associated with prolonged saccadic latencies. This may reflect the different measurements used by these two studies. While fractional anisotropy indexes white matter microstructure, including myelination (Beaulieu,
2002; Harsan
et al.,
2006), functional connectivity indexes correlations in the blood oxygen level dependent signal in grey matter structures. Thus, we interpreted the observed correlations between fractional anisotropy and saccadic latency in schizophrenia to reflect the well-established role of white matter myelin thickness and axon diameter in determining conduction velocity. Functional connectivity during task performance instead reflects inter-regional coordination, which may depend, in part, on white matter integrity, but is also influenced by other factors. The present findings suggest that coordination between the default and ocular motor networks plays a bigger role in performance variability than coordination within the ocular motor control network.
Another issue concerns our interpretation of negative functional connectivity. Based on the existing literature (Drevets and Raichle,
1998; Bush
et al.,
2000; Fox
et al.,
2005; Fransson,
2006) and an fMRI study of the same task showing that deactivation in default network regions was coincident with increased activation in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Polli
et al.,
2005) the negative correlations raise the possibility of reciprocal patterns of brain activity. However, negative correlations can be an artefact of global signal regression techniques such as those applied here (Chang and Glover,
2009; Murphy
et al.,
2009; Van Dijk
et al., in press). Based on these prior studies, we expect that if we did not use global signal regression, the relative patterns of connectivity would be preserved, but the negative sign would no longer be present. Regardless of the direction of the correlations, the relations of right CEF functional connectivity with task performance differed significantly by group reflecting that they were significant in controls and absent in patients. This suggests that the coordination of activity in the volitional ocular motor control network and the regions that collectively comprise the default network is important for efficient task performance and is disrupted in schizophrenia. This finding is consistent with a growing literature suggesting that dyscoordination of activity between the default network and task-active networks compromises cognitive function in schizophrenia (Buckner
et al.,
2008; Whitfield-Gabrieli
et al.,
2009).
Finally, although similar networks are identified by analyses of task-based and resting-state functional connectivity, there is evidence that task alters functional connectivity (Van Dijk
et al.,
2010). Similar to some prior studies in schizophrenia (Garrity
et al.,
2007; Kim
et al.,
2009; Whitfield-Gabrieli
et al.,
2009), we examined functional connectivity while participants performed a specific task. Therefore, we do not know whether similar abnormalities would also be present during rest.
In summary, the present findings demonstrate reduced functional connectivity of the CEF, specifically in the right hemisphere, during the performance of volitional saccades in schizophrenia. Along with our prior observation of reduced microstructural integrity of the white matter underlying the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (Manoach
et al.,
2007a), the present findings suggest that functional and structural right CEF abnormalities disrupt connectivity and function in a distributed network for spatial attention and volitional ocular motor control. These abnormalities may contribute to the consistently observed deficits on tasks requiring volitional ocular motor control in schizophrenia. More generally, disrupted connectivity in this network may compromise the ability to overcome prepotency in the service of directing eye gaze and attention to the parts of the environment that are the most behaviourally relevant. These findings suggest a neural basis for the deficits in the control of visual spatial attention that characterize schizophrenia (Luck and Gold,
2008).