Psychopathology in Motion – Systems Neuroscience of Motor Function in Psychosis

Objectives: Psychoses are aetiologically complex disorders that affect about 1-2% of the population during their lifetime. Impairments in motor function that occur in psychosis have been associated with aberrant neural activity and structure. It is still unclear whether differences in motor ability in healthy individuals are similarly related to distinct brain activation patterns in motor-related brain areas, suggesting that impairments in psychosis patients are extreme values on a trait continuum. In the present study, we examine the neural underpinnings of motor function on the spectrum from health to psychosis. Methods: We investigate the neural correlates by conducting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) in 120 subjects from four different groups: psychosis patients, subjects with a clinical high-risk for psychosis, first-degree relatives of psychosis patients and healthy controls. During MRI and EEG measurement, subjects perform a foot movement as well as a biological motion recognition task. In the former, participants are instructed to perform an ankle movement, conducted by a pedal. In the latter, short videos of point light displays of human movements, in contrast to random dot motion patterns are presented to the participants. Results/Conclusion: Preliminary data from our study are presented. We hypothesize functional and structural neural abnormalities in the motor areas in relation to the strength of the behavioral disturbances. Our results will provide new insights into the neural basis, as well as the aetiology of motor function in psychosis. This will help to improve prediction, diagnosis and treatment options for these disturbances