A group of researchers measured functional imaging responses to stop-signal, monetary incentive delay and face tasks to investigate the neural correlates of psychotic-like experiences in youth. Participants were tested to see whether these neurofunctional correlates of risk would be used to predict psychotic symptoms two years later.

“Studying young adolescents prone to [psychotic-like experiences] will help to identify etiologic processes implicated in psychosis proneness, without the confounds of diverse risk factors and iatrogenic effects, such as substance misuse, medication, and social impairment,” wrote the authors.  

In the study, which published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers collected functional imaging responses from a group of 14-year-olds. At baseline, youths were assessed on psychotic-like experiences. If they reported any significant experiences, they were compared to matched control subjects. Significant brain activity differences between the groups were used to predict, with cross-validation, if there were any psychotic symptoms in the context of mood fluctuation at age 16.

Researchers found that the most significant regional difference between participants with mood fluctuation and psychotic symptoms and the control groups were hyperactivation of the hippocampus/amygdala, when controlling for baseline psychotic-like experiences and cannabis use. 

“Relative to control subjects, youths reporting psychotic-like experiences showed increased hippocampus/amygdala activity during processing of neutral faces and reduced dorsolateral prefrontal activity during failed inhibition,” wrote the authors.