Disrupted Neural Connectivity in Empathy Deficits in Schizophrenia

社交互动是大多数人都能轻松驾驭的动态交流。然而， 这些交流实际上是相当复杂和微妙的。事实上，患有精神分裂症的退伍军人 他们经常感到困惑，导致社交功能不佳。社交网络背后的关键流程 互动就是移情：理解和分享观点和心理状态的能力 其他人的。目前的建议将移情分为两个主要组成部分：情感移情 和认知同理心。情感同理心在精神分裂症患者中可能相对完整，而且 包括替代地分享另一个人的精神状态。情感同理心可以更进一步 分为两个子组件。运动共振指的是大脑倾向于激活 在第一手动作期间的相同区域以及对运动动作的二手观察。 相关脑区包括顶下小叶、后上颞沟、 和额叶下回。情感分享指的是大脑区域的重叠激活 情绪的一手和二手体验，并与背侧前扣带核有关 大脑皮层和前脑岛区域。认知移情涉及到从 其他的，范围从简单的视觉透视(推断人们看到了哪些物体 从不同的角度)到情感观点(更复杂的关于 他人的感情、信仰和意图)。精神分裂症患者认知功能持续受损 移情作用与内侧前额叶皮质、楔前叶和顶叶有关 交叉口。同理心的复杂结构需要 这些大脑网络内部和之间的区域。同理心背后的网络架构 精神分裂症的发病机制尚不清楚，包括内部和两者之间的联系是否发生了任何变化 这些同理心网络的区域。这项提议的目标是解决这一差距 文学。为此，申请者将接受大脑功能和结构方面的培训。 连通性方法并将其应用于多模式成像研究，旨在更好地 了解退伍军人的同理心处理功能在神经水平上的故障 精神分裂症。获得培训组件中概述的技能将使申请者能够 利用先进、尖端的神经成像方法进行下一代 精神障碍的转译神经科学研究。主要的导师将是迈克尔 F.Green博士，VISN 22 MIRECC治疗单元主任，在 精神分裂症研究领域。申请者将与格林博士和三位共同导师一起工作 他们是各自领域的专家，学习分析fMRI数据所需的技能 使用多元技术的功能连通性，用于结构连通性的dMRI数据，以及 将图论这一先进的计算分析方法应用于神经连通性研究 模式。这项工作将通过超越 区域神经关注的潜在机制的神经网络模型 精神变态学。申请者的职业目标是成为一名退伍军人研究心理学家， 致力于增进对精神分裂症的理解，同时也通过 研究成果的实际应用。这一CDA将有助于申请人实现以下目标 独立性，提供独特的技能组合，成为当地的专家和长期的 退伍军人事务部研究员。申请者在退伍军人事务部/加州大学洛杉矶分校的培训环境提供 完成拟议研究的良好环境和基础设施。

Social interactions are dynamic exchanges that most people navigate with ease. However, these exchanges are actually quite complex and nuanced. Indeed, Veterans with schizophrenia often find them confusing, resulting in poor social functioning. A key process underlying social interactions is empathy: the ability to understand and share the perspectives and mental states of others. The current proposal divides empathy into two major components: affective empathy and cognitive empathy. Affective empathy might be relatively intact in schizophrenia and it involves vicariously sharing another person’s mental states. Affective empathy can be further divided into two subcomponents. Motor resonance refers to the brain’s tendency to activate the same regions during first-hand action as well as second-hand observation of motor movements. Associated brain regions include the inferior parietal lobule, posterior superior temporal sulcus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Affect sharing refers to overlapping activation of brain regions during first- and second-hand experience of emotion, and is associated with dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula brain regions. Cognitive empathy involves taking the perspective of others, and ranges from simple visual perspective taking (inferring which objects someone sees from a different view point) to emotional perspective taking (more complex inferences about another’s feelings, beliefs, and intentions). It is consistently impaired in schizophrenia Cognitive empathy is associated with the medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and temporo-parietal junction. The complex construct of empathy requires integration and coordination among regions within and between these brain networks. The network architecture underlying empathy in schizophrenia is not known, including any alterations in connections within and between regions of these empathy networks. The goal of this proposal is address this gap in the literature. To do so, the applicant will receive training in functional and structural brain connectivity methods and apply them to a multi-modal imaging study designed to better understand where empathy processing functions break down at the neural level in Veterans with schizophrenia. Acquiring the skills outlined in the training component will allow the applicant to utilize sophisticated, cutting-edge neuroimaging methods to conduct the next generation of translational neuroscience research on psychotic disorders. The primary mentor will be Michael F. Green, PhD, Director of the VISN 22 MIRECC Treatment Unit, an established leader in the field of schizophrenia research. The applicant will work with Dr. Green and three co-mentors who are experts in their respective fields, to learn skills necessary to analyze fMRI data for functional connectivity using multivariate techniques, dMRI data for structural connectivity, and apply graph theory, an advanced computational analysis, to the study of neural connectivity patterns. The work stands to make a significant contribution to the field by moving beyond a regional neural focus toward a neural network model of underlying mechanisms of psychopathology. The applicant’s career goal is to become a VA-based research psychologist, working to advance understanding of schizophrenia while also benefiting Veterans through practical application of research findings. This CDA will facilitate the applicant’s goal of independence, providing a unique combination of skills to become a local expert and long-term VA researcher. The applicant’s training environment at the VA MIRECC/UCLA provides an excellent environment and infrastructure from which to complete the proposed study.