14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers led by Vaibhav Diwadkar, PhD, say that children prone to developing schizophrenia display a series of developmental differences in terms of brain network wiring and functionality, when compared with kids at much lower risk.
“Brain network dysfunction associated with emotional processing is a potential predictor for the onset of emotional problems that may occur later in life and that are in turn associated with illnesses like schizophrenia,” he explains.
The research was carried out at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, by experts with the Division of Brain Research and Imaging Neuroscience, PsychCentral reports. The brains of children were studied using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
This technique allows researchers to identify areas of the brain that are activated during certain activities. This is how the science group was able to figure out which areas of the young brain were wired differently from normal in kids predisposed to developing schizophrenia.