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Data-driven Whole-brain Approaches for Identifying Reliable Functional Imaging Markers of Schizophrenia

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Abstract

This European-style dissertation examines prospective neurobiological markers of schizophrenia based on aberrant patterns of whole-brain functional network connectivity (FNC). The first chapter reviews, compares, and interprets previous studies employing data-driven whole-brain approaches to examine FNC in schizophrenia and psychosis. Several recommendations are made for future research to explore, including the consideration of changes across different cohorts or clinical profiles within the psychosis continuum, such as individuals with early stage or chronic illness, as well as the influence of factors such as medication and chronicity. Chapter one also highlights consistent schizophrenia-related patterns of aberrant FNC between the cerebellum, thalamus, and primary motor and sensory cortex as well as posterior association cortex. Chapter two investigates patterns of aberrant FNC utilizing the NeuroMark 1.0 single-scale template in an early psychosis cohort which is relatively naïve to the effects of medication and chronicity. Chapter three describes challenges which the field of neuroscience broadly faces, namely inconsistency introduced by nomenclature as well as individual subject variability. The NeuroMark approach is briefly described, and a multi-scale functional brain atlas is introduced, suggesting that together these address many challenges facing the field. Chapter four investigates patterns of aberrant FNC utilizing the NeuroMark 2.2 multi-scale template in a chronic schizophrenia cohort and explores the patterns associated with medication and chronicity. Chapter five unifies the findings of previous chapters by utilizing the NeuroMark 2.2 multi-scale template to further explore patterns of aberrant FNC in early psychosis, then evaluates the clinical utility of these findings for identifying psychiatric risk in a prodromal adolescent cohort. The final chapter briefly reviews the previous chapters, then offers recommendations for the future development of reliable functional imaging markers of schizophrenia.

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2026-04-16
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Data-driven, Whole-brain, Resting-state fMRI, Neuroimaging, Schizophrenia, Psychosis
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