Mapping the Mind: Insights into fMRI Brain Dynamics in Schizophrenia

Brain connectivity represents the functional organization of the brain, which is an important indicator for evaluating neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment effects. Schizophrenia is associated with impaired functional connectivity, but characterizing the complex abnormality patterns has been challenging. A common symptom of schizophrenia is auditory hallucinations, which involve false perceptions in the absence of external stimuli.

Cognitive models suggest that a combination of cognitive processes contribute to auditory hallucinations. Janerra Allen, a graduate researcher at UMBC, will join us to discuss her work using resting-state and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data was used to measure functional connectivity between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls to extract disease-related connectivity patterns using CONN, an imaging analysis tool, and energy landscape analysis. Based on a large language model (LLM), we explore the relationship between the hallucination generation process and the impaired brain connectivity function.

This work demonstrates the promise of identifying brain features related to specific clinical aspects of schizophrenia. This will not only support future treatment development for modifying connectivity, but also offer perspectives for understanding neuroscience mechanisms.

This will be a hybrid talk! You are welcome to join us either at the BUGSS lab or online.

Host or Publisher Baltimore Under Ground Science Space