Poster abstracts
Poster number 91 submitted by Aravind Kalathil
Altered cerebellar-cerebral dynamics in social gaze processing
Aravind Kalathil (Neuroscience Graduate Program), Aubrey Moe (OSU Department of Psychiatry), Scott Blain (OSU Department of Psychiatry), Ivy Tso
Abstract:
Background: People with schizophrenia (SZ) exhibit social cognition deficits, including abnormal eye gaze processing (GP). Recent research has linked cerebellar-cerebral connections to social cognition, but how these connections are altered in SZ is unknown. Here, we used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to investigate how cerebellar activity influences cerebral social processing nodes during GP in healthy controls (HC) & SZ. We hypothesized that cerebellar outputs to cerebral nodes would be reduced in SZ compared to HC.
Methods: Using two fMRI datasets (Primary: 39 SZ/33 HC; Secondary: 27 SZ/22 HC), we analyzed a GP task done with explicit & implicit GP blocks. A GLM contrast of explicit>implicit GP identified four social processing nodes for DCM analysis: cerebellum, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), insula, & fusiform. Connectivity of these nodes during explicit & implicit GP and modulation of each connection during explicit GP was estimated and compared between SZ & HC.
Results: Both datasets showed excitatory cerebellar inputs from the insula (>95% posterior probability/Pp) and inhibitory cerebellar outputs (>75% Pp) to the fusiform in HC & SZ. Cerebellar output to IPL and input from insula was lower in SZ (>75% Pp). Cerebellar inputs from the fusiform were upregulated during explicit GP (>95% Pp) in HC & SZ. Cerebellar outputs to IPL & fusiform were less upregulated during explicit GP in SZ (>75% Pp).
Discussion: Parameter estimates show that cerebellar connectivity to social processing regions is reduced in SZ and not upregulated to the same extent as HC during explicit GP. Due to its physical isolation from other brain structures and its accessibility for noninvasive brain stimulation, the cerebellum may provide a potential therapeutic target for social functioning deficits. Future research will use neurostimulation techniques to investigate cerebellar contributions to social functioning.
References:
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2. Hooker, C. & Park, S. You must be looking at me: The nature of gaze perception in schizophrenia patients. Cognit. Neuropsychiatry 10, 327–345 (2005).
3. Wang, D. et al. Topological Disruption of Structural Brain Networks in Patients With Cognitive Impairment Following Cerebellar Infarction. Front. Neurol. 10, 759 (2019).
4. Tso, I. F. et al. Dynamic Causal Modeling of Eye Gaze Processing in Schizophrenia. Schizophr. Res. 229, 112–121 (2021).
5. Blain, S. D. et al. Aberrant effective connectivity during eye gaze processing is linked to social functioning and symptoms in schizophrenia. Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimaging 8, 1228–1239 (2023).
Keywords: schizophrenia, gaze processing, cerebellum