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Decoding Funny Faces to Detect Disease
February 05, 2009Like Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind, life is often difficult for the 2.4 million Americans with schizophrenia. A late or incorrect diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment options can destroy a sufferer's quality of life.
Schizophrenia usually emerges between the ages of 18 and 30, but diagnosis before the disease manifests could be the key to developing more successful treatments, says Prof. Talma Hendler of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology.
Until now, detecting mental illness before symptoms appear has been nearly impossible. Building on her groundbreaking work on facial recognition and brain imaging, Prof. Hendler is hoping to make early diagnosis a reality by identifying the physical markers of mental illness - particularly schizophrenia - inside the brain.
"With better diagnosis, plus earlier and more disease-specific treatment, we can make a real difference in the lives of these patients," Prof. Hendler says.
Mapping The Brain
For years, the mechanism behind the abnormal social behavior that characterizes many schizophrenic patients has been a mystery. To study the physical manifestation of schizophrenia, Prof. Hendler used brain imaging to illustrate differences between the brain activity of schizophrenic patients and healthy adults. Her work is part of the Functional Human Brain Mapping project at Tel Aviv University.
Prof. Hendler's findings, published recently in the journal Human Brain Mapping, showed that when presented with photographs of emotional faces with "bizarre" characteristics, the brains of schizophrenic patients were much less reactive than established norms.
In her previous research published in the journal Neuron, when shown a bizarre "funny face", healthy minds respond with selective activity within the brain, sounding the alarm that there is something disturbing about the image. Prof Hendler then posited that although this selective response is found in visual areas, it has distributed effects in the brain; "The visual areas of the brain are highly connected to other areas, including the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, but in schizophrenic patients, there is a diminished connection between the various parts, leading to disturbed integration of information - and thus to distorted experiences," she says.
Developing Early Screening Processes and Better Treatments
"Recognizing facial emotions is a very early process, so young children could be screened for a predisposition to mental disease by measuring their brain connectivity while detecting emotional cues," Prof. Hendler explains. An objective early marker of the disease would be especially useful for those already considered high risk, such as children with an immediate family member with the disease. With early diagnosis to guide individually tailored treatment, it may be possible to reduce the effect of the disease and, in some cases, even prevent its outbreak.
By identifying the physical characteristics of a mental disorder, Prof. Hendler is also paving the way for new types of treatment. "Current drugs treat the abnormal behavior, not the brain disorder that is causing the behavior," she says, "We want to be able to develop more specific treatments based on objective brain markers, which are the actual characteristics of the disease."
Prof. Hendler's work has been published in leading journals in the field of cognitive neuroscience such as the Journal of Neuroscience and the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroimage and Neuron. She is currently also working on using brain imaging to characterize and identify predispositions for post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers.
Future work with "funny faces" will also look at basic human emotions such as shame, envy and guilt. Having a neural marker for these emotions might give clinicians an early-detection tool to spot abnormalities in social interactions. Problems in socializing are a hallmark of schizophrenia.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
"With better diagnosis, plus earlier and more disease-specific treatment, we can make a real difference in the lives of these patients," Prof. Hendler says.
Mapping The Brain
For years, the mechanism behind the abnormal social behavior that characterizes many schizophrenic patients has been a mystery. To study the physical manifestation of schizophrenia, Prof. Hendler used brain imaging to illustrate differences between the brain activity of schizophrenic patients and healthy adults. Her work is part of the Functional Human Brain Mapping project at Tel Aviv University.
Prof. Hendler's findings, published recently in the journal Human Brain Mapping, showed that when presented with photographs of emotional faces with "bizarre" characteristics, the brains of schizophrenic patients were much less reactive than established norms.
In her previous research published in the journal Neuron, when shown a bizarre "funny face", healthy minds respond with selective activity within the brain, sounding the alarm that there is something disturbing about the image. Prof Hendler then posited that although this selective response is found in visual areas, it has distributed effects in the brain; "The visual areas of the brain are highly connected to other areas, including the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, but in schizophrenic patients, there is a diminished connection between the various parts, leading to disturbed integration of information - and thus to distorted experiences," she says.
Developing Early Screening Processes and Better Treatments
"Recognizing facial emotions is a very early process, so young children could be screened for a predisposition to mental disease by measuring their brain connectivity while detecting emotional cues," Prof. Hendler explains. An objective early marker of the disease would be especially useful for those already considered high risk, such as children with an immediate family member with the disease. With early diagnosis to guide individually tailored treatment, it may be possible to reduce the effect of the disease and, in some cases, even prevent its outbreak.
By identifying the physical characteristics of a mental disorder, Prof. Hendler is also paving the way for new types of treatment. "Current drugs treat the abnormal behavior, not the brain disorder that is causing the behavior," she says, "We want to be able to develop more specific treatments based on objective brain markers, which are the actual characteristics of the disease."
Prof. Hendler's work has been published in leading journals in the field of cognitive neuroscience such as the Journal of Neuroscience and the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroimage and Neuron. She is currently also working on using brain imaging to characterize and identify predispositions for post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers.
Future work with "funny faces" will also look at basic human emotions such as shame, envy and guilt. Having a neural marker for these emotions might give clinicians an early-detection tool to spot abnormalities in social interactions. Problems in socializing are a hallmark of schizophrenia.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
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Schizophrenia Revealed: From Neurons to Social Interactions by Michael Foster Green (Author) A modern view of schizophrenia based on neuroscience that goes far beyond the symptoms of the illness. "Green has lifted the bar in this realm of explanatory neuroscience-based psychiatry. If you wish to read an enjoyable and instructive primer on what we know about schizophrenia at the beginning of the 21st century, you could do no better than to choose Schizophrenia Revealed." —New England Journal of Medicine |
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The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller (Author), Amanda Bennett (Author) Schiller's gripping, heart-rending and ultimately triumphant story of her journey into madness and back to reality is told through the voices of Lori and her family, friends and doctor, and captures a rare, astoundingly vivid view into the inner life of a schizophrenic. "A stunning story of courage, persistence, and hope."--Publishers Weekly. |
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Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers by E. Fuller Torrey (Author) Since its first publication in 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia has become the standard reference book on the disease and has helped thousands of patients, their families and mental health professionals. In clear language, this much–praised and important book describes the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment and course of schizophrenia and also explores living with it from both the patient and the family's point of view. This new, completely updated fifth edition includes the latest research findings on what causes the disease as well as information about the newest drugs for treatment and answers to the questions most often asked by families, consumers and providers. |
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Schizophrenia For Dummies (For Dummies (Health & Fitness)) by Jerome Levine (Author), Irene S. Levine (Author) Practical tools for leading a happy, productive life Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling mental disorder that afflicts one percent of the population, an estimated 2.5 million people in America alone. The firsthand advice in this reassuring guide will empower the families and caregivers of schizophrenia patients to take charge, offering expert advice on identifying the warning signs, choosing the right health professional, understanding currently available drugs and those on the horizon (as well as their side effects), and evaluating traditional and alternative therapies. |
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