# Elucidating Cerebellar Contributions to Social Cognition: A Transdiagnostic Investigation

> **NIH NIH R03** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $156,130

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Many individuals living with serious psychiatric disorders – including those that span the psychosis, autism, and
anxiety spectrums – experience significant social dysfunction and disability secondary to mental illness.
Unfortunately, social impairments are generally not addressed by psychiatric medications and psychosocial
interventions for social dysfunction are often difficult to access or otherwise limited in their scope (i.e., intended
for a discrete diagnostic group) or clinical benefit. Thus, novel therapeutics capable of addressing social
dysfunction across diagnostic groups are needed but will rely on improved understanding of the neurobiological
mechanisms that underlie these impairments. Notably, social cognition – and in particular, mentalizing (i.e., the
ability to make inferences about the mental states of others) – plays an important role in functional outcomes
among individuals with mental illness. Though mentalizing has known neural underpinning in the cerebral brain
regions that comprise the mentalizing network (MN; i.e., medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, temporoparietal
junction), emerging data suggests that the posterior cerebellum (Crus II) plays a critical role in social cognitive
processing that has not been examined among individuals with serious mental illness. More specifically, the
posterior cerebellum may act as a forward controller with cerebral MN regions – which, given the accessibility of
the cerebellum for neurostimulation relative to cerebral regions of the MN, may have critical implications for
translational interventions. In this proposed project, we will develop a brain network model of dynamic
interactions between key brain regions involved in mentalizing among a transdiagnostic sample of youth and
young adults (14-30) selected specifically for prominent social dysfunction secondary to a psychiatric illness. By
investigating network models in a sample of individuals during the phase of life in which the majority of mental
illnesses emerge or escalate, we can minimize the influence of confounding factors related to more chronic
illness or long-term use of psychiatric medications. Crucially, we will also examine the extent to which cerebellar
activity and connectivity is associated with lab-based, validated measures of functional and social-cognitive
performance to better understand neural factors that may be most impactful on critical functional outcomes.
Findings from this study have notable potential to define a novel treatment target for a future translational clinical
trial studying neuromodulation of cerebellar regions most strongly associated with devastating and difficult-to-
treat social dysfunction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10953627
- **Project number:** 1R03TR005204-01
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Aubrey M. Moe
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $156,130
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10953627

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10953627, Elucidating Cerebellar Contributions to Social Cognition: A Transdiagnostic Investigation (1R03TR005204-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10953627. Licensed CC0.

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