Contributed Talk Sessions | Poster Sessions | All Posters | Search Papers

Poster Session B: Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Paradigms for probing socio-affective Bayesian inference in individuals with blunted affect – preliminary insights

Katharina V. Wellstein¹, Peter Thestrup Waade², Richa Phogat, Renate Thienel, Bryan Paton, Michael Breakspear; ¹University of Newcastle, ²Aarhus University

Presenter: Katharina V. Wellstein

Despite their key impact on clinical outcomes, negative symptoms in schizophrenia remain poorly understood. We designed a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study to test a mechanistic hypothesis of negative symptoms, based on the Bayesian inference and predictive coding framework. We thus designed tasks and chose models that capture this inference process, i.e. a social-affective prediction task and a control task that can be fit with Bayesian generative models. Here we present preliminary data of a first pilot study testing whether we can extract prediction error (PE) learning quantities that are uniquely social-affective. This is a crucial component of the upcoming fMRI study. Our preliminary results indicate that the two tasks in conjunction with the models may capture learning quantities that are unique to the social-affective task as well as quantities that capture general specific PE-learning. Given the preliminary nature of the study, results may change.

Topic Area: Predictive Processing & Cognitive Control

Extended Abstract: Full Text PDF