# Disrupted Neural Connectivity in Empathy Deficits in Schizophrenia

> **NIH VA IK2** · VA GREATER LOS ANGELES HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2023 · —

## Abstract

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....

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10595494
- **Project number:** 5IK2CX001607-05
- **Recipient organization:** VA GREATER LOS ANGELES HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Amy M Jimenez
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-10-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10595494

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10595494, Disrupted Neural Connectivity in Empathy Deficits in Schizophrenia (5IK2CX001607-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10595494. Licensed CC0.

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