Towards an integration of information gleaned from neuroimaging in schizophrenia

Abstract

Neuroimaging has been central to the study of schizophrenia since the introduction of computerized-tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the 1970s (CT) and 1980s (MRI). Over the last few decades, the field has generated a wealth of information across an array of modalities to interrogate, in vivo, brain structure and function, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, neural connectivity, and neurodevelopment. However, despite the advances made possible by neuroimaging in the field of schizophrenia, the scientific community has yet to produce a “clinical biomarker of schizophrenia” that would provide psychiatry with more objective measures of diagnosis, prognosis, and patient care outcomes. In this chapter, we first integrate information from the imaging modalities presented in Neuroimaging of Schizophrenia followed by an overview of the state of the field. We then cite several conceptual and methodological shortcomings that have hindering progress to date in understanding the underpinnings of schizophrenia. For each of these shortcomings, we recommend approaches that we believe will be most effective in future studies in moving the field forward.