European Psychiatry - Volume 33 - March 2016

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24th European Congress of Psychiatry / European Psychiatry 33S (2016) S18–S55 S45
self-evaluation task. The task comprised a self-reflection, close
other-reflection, and a semantic (baseline) compared
correlates of Expressive versus Social amotivation factors (summed
items from the PANSS interview) for the contrasts self-baseline and
self-other. Significance threshold was set at P < 0.05 family-wise
error (FEW) corrected.
Results Social amotivation correlated significantly with self-
evaluation vs. baseline in right and left ACC, and in the sulcus of
frontal lateral lobe between inferior frontal triangularis and mid-
dle frontal gyrus. This was also significant, but less pronounced, in
the direct comparison of social amotivation vs. expressive deficits
scores (for the self-baseline contrast). No activation differences sur-
vived critical thresholds for the self-other contrast.
Conclusion Differential neural correlates for the two dimensions
of negative symptoms support the validity of this distinction based
on factor analyses. Intact functioning of brain circuitry for self-
referential processing may be of relevance to actively seek social
interaction.
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.
S85
The social self in schizophrenia: A
neural network perspective on
integrative external and internal
information processing
S. Ebisch
University G. d’Annunzio, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging,
Chieti, Italy
Social impairment is recognized as a basic aspects of schizophre-
nia. Although the nature of aberrant self-other relationship in
schizophrenia is still poorly understood, it has been suggested that
some social impairments could have their roots in self-disturbances
typical of schizophrenia. For instance, experiencing otherness could
become problematic with anomalous self-recognition. Further-
more, deficits in the processing of self-relatedness of social stimuli
disconnect the self from its social environment. On the one hand,
this could lead to problems in self-other distinction caused by
misattributions of ownership of experience and agency in social
interaction. On the other hand, this could result in feelings of
isolation and reduced intersubjectivity due to interrupted self-
referential processing of social stimuli, likely also mediated by
memory and emotion. Brain networks involved in self-referential
processing, sense of ownership, and agency also have been implied
in social cognition. Whereas cortical midline structures are associ-
ated with self-referential processing of external stimuli including
social information, sensorimotor and affective networks involved
in bodily and interoceptive self-processing are also involved in the
ability to share others’ experiences. Schizophrenia has been linked
with a reduced integrity of these networks underlying various
aspects of self and social impairments, though rather separately.
Recent neuroimaging findings will be highlighted explaining how
self-disturbances can pervade the social domain in schizophrenia.
In particular, disruptions of the social self in schizophrenia will be
addressed froma neuronal network and connectiomics perspective
providing a unifying framework.
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.
S86
Psychopathology of the self and the
altered cortical midline structures in
psychiatric disorders – a marriage?
G. Northoff
University of Ottawa, Institute of Mental Research, Ottawa, Canada
The self is central in our mental life and disturbances of the self-
figure most prominently in psychopathological symptoms. The
cortical midline structures (CMS) have been associated with self-
related processing and its changes in schizophrenia, depression and
other psychiatric disorders. However, the exact neuronal mecha-
nisms underlying self-related processing in CMS and its changes in
psychiatric disorders remain unclear. Especially the neural over-
lap between high resting state activity levels and self-related
processing in CMS is rather puzzling. I present recent data on the
rest-self overlap in healthy subjects showing that resting state
activity in CMS can predict self-relatedness. The implications for
psychological symptoms as in depression and schizophrenia are
pointed out.
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.
S87
Brain networks sub-serving
self-referential processing in
depression
G. Wagner∗, C. Schachtzabel , G. Peikert , K.J. Bär
Jena University Hospital, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena,
Germany
∗ Corresponding author.
Introduction Persistent pondering over negative self-related
thoughts is a central feature of depressive psychopathology.
Objectives In the present study, we sought to investigate the neu-
ral correlates of abnormal negative self-referential processing (SRP)
in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and its impact
on subsequent cognitive control-related neuronal activation.
Aims We hypothesized aberrant activation dynamics during the
period of negative and neutral SRP in the rostral anterior cingu-
late cortex (rACC) and in the amygdala in patients with MDD. We
assumed abnormal activation in the fronto-cingulate network dur-
ing Stroop task execution.
Methods Nineteen depressed patients and 20 healthy controls
participated in the study. Using an event-related fMRI design,
negative, positive and neutral self-referential statements were dis-
played for 6.5s and followed by incongruent or congruent Stroop
conditions.
Results In contrast to controls, patients did not exhibit valence-
dependent rACC activation differences during SRP. A novel finding
was the significant activation of the amygdala and the reward-
processing network during presentation of neutral self-referential
stimuli relative to baseline and to affective stimuli in patients. The
fMRI analysis of the Stroop task revealed a reduced BOLD activation
in the right frontoparietal network of patients in the incongruent
condition after negative SRP only.
Conclusions Thus, the inflexible activation in the rACC may
correspond to the inability of depressed patients to shift their atten-
tion away from negative self-related stimuli. The accompanying
negative affect and task-irrelevant emotional processing may com-
pete for neuronal resources with cognitive control processes and
lead thereby to deficient cognitive performance associated with
decreased frontoparietal activation.
Disclosure of interest The authors have not supplied their decla-
ration of competing interest.