A multivariate analysis of the association between corticostriatal functional connectivity and psychosis-like experiences in the general community

Dysfunction of dorsal corticostriatal (CST) circuitry is thought to play an important role in psychosis. Here, we use multivariate analysis to characterize covariance between CST functional connectivity and psychosis-like experiences (PLEs) in non-clinical individuals. In 353 healthy adults (155 males), we use partial least squares (PLS) to identify latent variables (LV) describing covariance between seven PLE questionnaire measures and functional connectivity estimated between each of six striatal seed regions and the rest of the brain using multiband resting-state fMRI. Hypothesis-driven PLS of the dorsal caudate (DC) seed identified one significant LV, accounting for 23.88% of covariance, with loadings from nearly all PLE subscales. Cortical regions implicated in this LV comprise anterior cingulate and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Lower connectivity between these cortical areas and the DC seed was associated with more severe PLEs. Using multivariate modeling, we identified an association between dorsal CST connectivity and PLEs in the general community that implicates similar brain regions to those identified in patient groups. Our results highlight that the severity of both positive/negative symptom-like PLEs is related with functional coupling between the DC and dorsolateral PFC, suggesting this neural circuit may play a role in mediating risk for general psychosis-related psychopathology.