Although there is increasing interest in connectivity deficits in schizophrenia, to our knowledge, this is the first study to explore functional connectivity in patients with psychosis in epilepsy. Most studies in schizophrenia indicate significant functional disconnection or reduced connectivity between wide brain areas as a possible pathophysiological mechanism underlying key deficits of the disorder [4]. These results come mainly from studies using fMRI, especially during performance of cognitive tasks in both first episode schizophrenia and the chronic state of the illness. Given the complexity of the disease, it is not surprising that in addition to functional disconnection, increased connectivity between certain brain areas is also observed to a lesser or greater extent in schizophrenia, sometimes representing the predominant pattern of aberrant connectivity [5]. This is particularly true for patients in an early stage of the illness during rest [4], and even in first degree relatives who are at increased risk of developing psychosis [5], [67], [68]. Based on this argument, it is interesting that compared to nonpsychotic patients we found a pattern of temporo-prefrontal hyperconnectivity specifically during resting state in patients with SLPE who are in a relatively early stage of the psychotic disorder.
