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The central executive network and executive function in healthy and persons with schizophrenia groups: a meta-analysis of structural and functional MRI

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Abstract

This meta-analysis evaluated the extent to which executive function can be understood with structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Studies included structural in schizophrenia (k = 8; n = 241) and healthy controls (k = 12; n = 1660), and functional in schizophrenia (k = 4; n = 104) and healthy controls (k = 12; n = 712). Results revealed a positive association in the brain behavior relationship when pooled across schizophrenia and control samples for structural (pr = 0.27) and functional (pr = 0.29) modalities. Subgroup analyses revealed no significant difference for functional neuroimaging (pr = .43, 95%CI = -.08-.77, p = .088) but with structural neuroimaging (pr = .37, 95%CI = -.08-.69, p = .015) the association to executive functions is lower in the control group. Subgroup analyses also revealed no significant differences in the strength of the brain-behavior relationship in the schizophrenia group (pr = .59, 95%CI = .58-.61, p = .881) or the control group (pr = 0.19, 95%CI = 0.18–0.19, p = 0.920), suggesting concordance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Suffolk University Psychology Department for their support of doctoral students and David Gansler’s Clinical Neuroscience of Cognitive Control Lab.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, 73 Tremont St., Boston, MA, 02108, USA

    Malvina O. Pietrzykowski, Katrina M. Daigle, Abigail B. Waters, Lance P. Swenson & David A. Gansler

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  1. Malvina O. Pietrzykowski
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  2. Katrina M. Daigle
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  3. Abigail B. Waters
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  4. Lance P. Swenson
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Author contributions included conception and study design (KMD, ABW, DAG), data collection (KMD, MOP, ABW), statistical analysis (MOP, KMD, ABW), interpretation of results (MOP, KMD, ABW, LPS, DAG), drafting the manuscript work or revising it critically for important intellectual content (MOP), and approval of final version to be published and agreement to be accountable for the integrity and accuracy of all aspects of the work (all authors).

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Pietrzykowski, M.O., Daigle, K.M., Waters, A.B. et al. The central executive network and executive function in healthy and persons with schizophrenia groups: a meta-analysis of structural and functional MRI. Brain Imaging and Behavior 16, 1451–1464 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00589-3

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