CIMeC Research Seminar – Stefania Benetti

^15th January 2013
11am

• Stefania Benetti, PhD; Post-doctoral visiting research associate, Department of Psychosis Studies; King’s College London

Title: Vulnerability to psychosis and verbal auditory hallucinations: a multimodal investigation of perisylvian alterations in the high risk and early stages of schizophrenia

Abstract: Schizophrenia is a severe and disabling mental illness characterised by a dysfunction in the integration of thoughts, emotion and behaviour. Over the past two decades, neuroimaging research has provided converging evidence in favour of altered brain structure and function in schizophrenia patients, especially within the prefrontal and temporal regions. To date, however, whether these alterations also represent neurobiological markers of liability to psychosis and its symptoms is yet to be completely understood.
In this presentation, I will introduce part of my doctoral work in which I specifically focused on the investigation of perisylvian alterations and their association with vulnerability to psychosis and auditory hallucinations. To this purpose, I combined the acquisition of structural, functional MRI and DTI-tractography data in patients with a first episode of psychosis and individuals at clinical high risk of developing it. Findings will be discussed in relations to their implication for current neurobiological models of the disease and the identification of neurobiological markers that could inform early diagnosis.

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