Functional Connectivity between Areas Involved in Emotion & Executive Control is Abnormal in Patients with Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures

Sylvie J. M. van Der Kruijs¹, Maarten J. Vaessen², Nynke M. G. Bodde¹, Richard H. C. Lazeron¹, Paul A. M. Hofman², Walter H. Backes², Albert P. Aldenkamp¹, Jacobus F. A. Jansen²

This study sought to investigate whether patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) differ from controls in their resting-state functional connectivity between regions typically activated during attentional processes. Eleven PNES patients and thirteen healthy controls underwent 2 task related (encode and Stroop) and resting state functional MRI. The encode and stroop paradigm did not reveal any differences between the 2 groups. Functional connectivity maps from the resting state fMRI (based on seeds from the encode and Stroop tasks) indicated statistically stronger correlations in the PNES patients. We observed a connectivity abnormality between areas involved in emotional responses and cognitive integration systems, which could explain the involuntary dissociative states typically seen in patients with PNES.