A Study on the Neurobiological Basis of Communicative Intelligence Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

Joohan Kim; Shin-ae Yoon; Hae-Jeong Park

doi:10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.35

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Kim, Yoon, and Park: A Study on the Neurobiological Basis of Communicative Intelligence Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

Original Article

Korean J Schizophr Res 2015;18(1):35-42.

Published online: 17 January 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.35

A Study on the Neurobiological Basis of Communicative Intelligence Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

Joohan Kim, PhD¹, Shin-ae Yoon, MS², Hae-Jeong Park, PhD^2,3,4,^2,3,4,^2,3,4,

¹Department of Communication, Korea

²Department of Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

³Department of Nuclear Medicine, Psychiatry, Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

⁴BK21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Address for correspondence: Hae-Jeong Park, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Psychiatry, Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea Tel: 02-2228-2363, Fax: 02-393-3035 E-mail: parkhj@yonsei.ac.kr

이 논문은 2010년도 정부재원(교육과학기술부 인문사회 연구역량강화 사업비) 으로 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 연구되었음(NRF-2010-32A-B00280).

Revised 13 April 201514 April 2015 Accepted 14 April 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

To develop reliable tools for measuring communication skills in schizophrenia, the present study proposed the concept of communication intelligence, consisting of conversational competence, emotional competence, and empathic competence, and explored its neurobiological underpinnings using regional gray matter volume with healthy people.

Methods

Communicative intelligence scores were obtained from 126 healthy young participants. Correlation analyses between regional volume distributions and communication intelligence subcomponents were conducted using voxel-based morphometry of structural MRI.

Results

The significant positive correlations between the regional gray matter volumes with conversational competence were found mainly at the ventromedial frontal gyrus while the negative correlations between the bilateral middle frontal gyrus. With emotional competence, the volume of right superior temporal gyrus was positively and that of bilateral insula was negatively correlated. With empathic competence, the volume of the left middle frontal gyrus was positively and that of the insula was negatively correlated.

Conclusion

Each of the subcomponents of communicative intelligence scores showed distinctive neurobiological underpinnings. The regions for the subcomponents, which constitute a common network for social cognition and emotion, are highly associated with the regions of the schizophrenia pathology. In conclusion, communicative intelligence scales have neurobiological basis to evaluate social skills of patients with schizophrenia.

Keywords: Communicative intelligence, Voxel-based morphometry, Conversational competence, Emotional competence, Empathic competence, Schizophrenia

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Fig. 1.

Statistical results of correlation analysis between regional gray matter volumes and communicative intelligence. Significantly correlated volume regions with conversational competence, emotional competence and empathic competence are presented in three-dimensional rendering and representative slice views. Red and blue color blobs show positive and negative correlations with communicative intelligence scales. p＜0.005 with cluster size ＞73, corresponding to multiple testing corrected p＜0.05, were displayed. A : Conversational competence. B : Emotional competence. C : Empathic competence

Table 1.

Demographic and clinical profiles

Contrast		Region	Coordinates x, y, z (mm)			Zmax C	Cluster size
Conversational competence	Positive	R ventromedial frontal gyrus (BA11)	10	68	-14	3.59	292
		R middle frontal gyrus (BA10)	38	62	1	3.55	130
		L middle frontal gyrus (BA10)	-32	54	19	3.26	75
		Vermis (culmen)	2	-49	-5	3.17	125
	Negative	R supramarginal gyrus	32	-37	45	3.86	124
		R lingual/fusiform gyrus	24	-63	-6	3.37	174
		L middle/inferior frontal gyrus	-30	42	-8	3.37	405
		R inferior frontal gyrus	27	22	-23	3.36	74
Emotional competence	Positive	R inferior temporal pole	36	4	-35	4.02	116
		R superior temporal gyrus	64	-3	-12	3.94	182
		R superior temporal gyrus	62	-39	13	3.31	88
	Negative	R lingual/fusiform gyrus	21	-72	-3	3.6	191
		L insula	-42	3	0	3.57	102
		L insula & rolandic operculum	-34	3	15	3.49	93
		R anterior insula	33	11	-14	3.29	133
		R posterior insula	42	-12	-8	3.26	141
		L caudate head	-8	14	-2	3.02	88
Empathic competence	Positive	L middle frontal gyrus (BA9)	-48	29	34	3.96	447
		L middle frontal gyrus (BA10)	-34	54	21	3.82	150
	Negative	L insula & rolandic operculum	-42	0	16	3.59	141

p＜0.005, cluster size＞73, BA : Brodmann area, Coordinates : Montreal Neurological Institute coordinate, Zmax : maximum correlation after z-normalization within a cluster. “–” in the cluster size indicates that this coordinate is a peak location that belongs to the cluster listed immediately above, L : left, R : right

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