Question

In a brain scan of a person suffering/suspected of suffering from schizophrenia, the brain _______

(a) has gray matter which more than normal

(b) has white matter which more than normal

(c) is of a size bigger than normal

(d) has shrunk

This question was addressed to me in a national level competition.

This interesting question is from MRI in division Diagnostic Investigation via Imaging Techniques of Clinical Science

Answer 1

Correct answer is (b) has white matter which more than normal

To elaborate: A person suffering from schizophrenia suffers from problems like hallucinations, listening to non existent sounds etc. The persistent problem can be analyzed by looking at the brain scan which shows that the white matter in a particular part of the brain has become more than normal. Since white matter is responsible for sending impulses, a bigger area of white matter will mean faster travelling of impulses and therefore such thoughts. However, since the CT shows the negatives of the original, the white matter will look gray and gray matter will look white. Thus, in a scan, if there is a large gray area and the person suffers from symptoms like hallucinations or anxiety etc, then it’s a high possibility that they have schizophrenia.