# Brain Correlates of Self-Focused Processing as a Biomarker of Treatment Response

> **NIH NIH K23** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $75,365

## Abstract

First-line interventions for psychiatric disorders do not work for everyone and factors impacting treatment
response are poorly understood. There is a clear need to identify reliable predictors of treatment response in
order to optimize treatment outcomes, provide more targeted referrals, and reduce healthcare costs.
Neuroimaging-based predictors of treatment response offer better predictive utility than clinical variables alone,
yet these predictors are largely lacking. This 5-year mentored patient-oriented research career development
award will address this need. Specifically, this project will test the hypothesis that individual differences in
maladaptive self-focused processing predict treatment response and that neuroimaging-based markers are
better predictors than behavioral ones. Each aim of the study corresponds to specific training goals, which will
map onto competency in four main areas: (1) fMRI neuroimaging techniques in terms of event-related design,
image acquisition, and data analysis, (2) neuroscience-informed treatment outcome research, (3) statistical
methods involving multidimensional classification, and (4) career development. Such training will transform the
applicant into an independent translational clinical scientist who examines the neural basis of cognitive
dysfunction in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders to inform personalized formulations of
pathology and aid in individual treatment decisions. Training goals will be implemented with the expert
guidance of Dr. Sabine Wilhelm (primary mentor), Dr. Dara Manoach (co-mentor), and the advisory team
consisting of Drs. Luan Phan, Jamie Feusner, and Mark Vangel. First, we propose to identify the neural
correlates of self-focused processing. We will assess baseline resting state connectivity within the default
network, as well as regional brain activation using a well-validated event-related fMRI task that manipulates
self-focused processing in patients with body dysmorphic and socially anxious symptoms, compared to healthy
controls. We selected this clinical sample because such patients display heightened self-focused attention, and
sampling individuals across these symptom dimensions will ensure greater variability on this dimension of
maladaptive self-focused processing. Second, we will examine the neural correlates of self-focused processing
as a predictor of treatment response. Neuroimaging data will be acquired from patients with body dysmorphic
and socially anxious symptoms during two scan sessions, before and after 12 weeks of individual cognitive-
behavioral therapy, and compared with healthy controls scanned twice at a 12-week interval. Finally, we will
compare the prediction of treatment response between neural measures and behavioral measures of self-
focused processing. We will assess the behavioral correlates of self-focused processing using a self-reference
effect paradigm, and assess their relation to treatment response. If our hypotheses are bo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9941127
- **Project number:** 5K23MH109593-05
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Angela Fang
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $75,365
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2020-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9941127

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9941127, Brain Correlates of Self-Focused Processing as a Biomarker of Treatment Response (5K23MH109593-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9941127. Licensed CC0.

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