# Cognitive mechanisms of delusion severity throughout recovery from a psychotic episode: a computational approach

> **NIH NIH K23** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $54,000

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Delusions are psychotic symptoms that contribute to significant emotional distress, poorer quality of life,
functional impairment, hospitalization and violence. Delusions are treatment-resistant in many patients.
Mechanistic understanding of delusion severity remains elusive, limiting treatment advancement. Abnormal
belief updating is a proposed mechanistic framework of delusions with accumulating evidentiary support. My
K23 mentored patient-oriented career development award proposes a longitudinal examination of delusion
severity and belief updating in psychotic disorder patients recovering from an acute episode of psychosis. This
project will use computational and functional neuroimaging (fMRI) approaches to 1) determine how belief
updating parameters change throughout six months of recovery from an acute delusional state, and 2)
characterize neurobiological correlates of belief updating parameters as symptom severity changes. I am an
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center on the Clinician Scientist-Investigator (tenure) Track. My long-term career goal is to build an
independent research program that employs sophisticated cognitive neuroscience techniques to test
mechanistic models of psychosis, and then use that knowledge to develop and test novel interventions. These
goals are being supported by a K23 mentored career development award, that includes training in: 1) the
computational and cognitive neuroscience of delusions, 2) longitudinal research design and statistics, and 3)
intervention research to prepare the me for a translational research career. Mentored training and completion
of the proposed project will provide me the skills and experience necessary to launch a successful independent
research career. I am therefore requesting an administrative supplement to my K23 parent award following the
critical life event of childbirth. In January 2024, I gave birth to my child, and I am currently on parental leave.
This critical life event was not anticipated when I developed my K-award timeline and career development
goals. While my child is still small, I will have reduced flexibility to oversee data collection and less predictable
time set aside for time-intensive analysis of neuroimaging data and in-person coursework. I am therefore
requesting supplemental funds to support effort of a research assistant and neuroimaging data analyst, in
addition to asynchronous online coursework focused on longitudinal data analysis. These additional resources
will support final data collection on my parent award and analysis of study aims, as I move into the final years of
my award period. This will support the continuity of my research and career development during this critical
time in my life; it will allow me to continue on my current research trajectory towards becoming an
independent investigator studying the cognitive mechanisms of psychosis and developing novel in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11061657
- **Project number:** 3K23MH126313-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Julia May Sheffield
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $54,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-03-15 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11061657

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11061657, Cognitive mechanisms of delusion severity throughout recovery from a psychotic episode: a computational approach (3K23MH126313-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11061657. Licensed CC0.

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