# Disrupted neural synchrony during naturalistic perception in schizophrenia: Toward a new biomarker of social dysfunction

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $752,235

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Social dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia. Many individuals with schizophrenia experience social
disconnection, a lack of social contact with friends and family. Social disconnection is associated with reduced
quality of life and many negative health effects, but most current treatments do little to address it. The
development of new interventions is currently hindered by a lack of scientific understanding about how
differences in the way individuals’ brains process information contribute to social disconnection, and a lack of
biomarkers associated with social functioning. Recent research in non-clinical social neuroscience points to a
compelling model that may help to explain social disconnection in schizophrenia and would provide the basis
for a new biomarker of social dysfunction. Specifically, research using functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) and inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis methods shows that people whose brains tend to respond
more normatively to dynamic, naturalistic stimuli (e.g., video clips) tend to have more social connections,
perhaps because more other people experience the world in a similar way, whereas people with less normative
responses tend to have fewer social connections. Converging evidence suggests that many individuals with
schizophrenia are likely to have less normative responses to such naturalistic stimuli, which could help to
explain why social disconnection is common in the disorder. However, the ISC method has not yet been used
to study social dysfunction in schizophrenia. This project will fill this research gap by translating ISC research
methods from non-clinical research in order to investigate how ISCs relate to social disconnection in
schizophrenia. Individuals with schizophrenia (N=200) and matched healthy controls (N=100) will each
complete one fMRI scan during which they will view naturalistic video stimuli and complete two established
paradigms that assess important domains of social processing: social cue perception and mentalizing. We will
characterize ISCs based on responses to the naturalistic video stimuli and characterize brain activity related to
social cue perception and mentalizing using standard analyses. The study will test whether ISCs differ between
the two participant groups and evaluate to what extent group ISC differences relate to individual differences in
social connection. We will also characterize ISC normativity for each member of the schizophrenia group,
using the control group as a reference, to assess whether brain response normativity is associated with social
disconnection, and whether individuals’ degree of social disconnection can be predicted from it. The project will
also test whether an ISC-based measure is more sensitive to individual differences in social disconnection than
established fMRI measures. Results from this project will improve understanding of how brain activity relates to
social dysfunction in schizophre...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10345552
- **Project number:** 1R01MH128720-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Carolyn Parkinson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $752,235
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-08 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10345552

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10345552, Disrupted neural synchrony during naturalistic perception in schizophrenia: Toward a new biomarker of social dysfunction (1R01MH128720-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10345552. Licensed CC0.

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