Schizophrenia and Brain Function

Substantial research is directed at better understanding how neurotransmitter systems work in healthy brains and in brains with schizophrenia, but little is known for sure. One hypothesis that is the focus of a great deal of research is that the dopamine neurotransmitter system in a part of the brain involved in emotion and information processing, the mesolimbic system, is involved in hallucinations and delusions. A related hypothesis is that the dopamine system in another brain area–the prefrontal cortex–is involved in the decrease in experience of emotions and other negative symptoms of schizophrenia. However, there are hypotheses that many neurotransmitter systems may be involved in schizophrenia, including norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and serotonin, to name just a few.