Neuroimaging studies related to emotional processing and applications in the investigation of functional and structural characteristics of the brain underlying to schizophrenia and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder with and without hyperactivity

• Grant number: 12/51011-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Agreement: CONICET
• Principal Investigator: Geraldo Busatto Filho
• Grantee: Geraldo Busatto Filho
• Principal researcher abroad: Salvador Guinjoan
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/19179-5 - Stimulus-response compatibility and emotional valence: an investigation of the neurological bases involved in the processing of spatial and emotional information, AP.R

Abstract

This project aims to strengthen the interaction between two research groups Consolidated with complementary experience in the field of neuroimaging research, implementing a project to study two different disorders: schizophrenia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- ADHD. The study with ADHD patients will investigate dysfunctions in specific brain areas involved in the selection of responses when spatial and emotional information competes for response selection. With regard to schizophrenia, the project will test the hypothesis that there is a structural basis for the deficit in emotional processing in individuals with schizophrenia, and that such abnormalities are partly shared with their nonpsychotic siblings. For this, the group of Brazilian researchers will assess subjects with ADHD and healthy (control), conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments with paradigms of stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) with stimuli of emotional valence; while the Argentine group will assess subjects with schizophrenia, nonpsychotic siblings and healthy individuals (control), conducting experiments of fMRI with paradigms of generic stress and induction of emotion. (AU)