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Cerebello-meso-frontal activity is linked to anhedonia and avolition in early psychosis

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Linda Hoffman¹ (), Ranesh Mopuru², Lauren Ellman³, David Smith⁴, Ingrid Olson⁵; ¹Temple University

The cerebellum is emerging as a critical substrate in disorders like schizophrenia. Given the cerebellum’s direct projections to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and upstream to the frontal lobe, we investigated whether psychophysiological interactions (PPI) between each deep cerebellar nucleus (DCN), the VTA, and dissociable frontal targets (i.e., rostro-middle frontal gyrus [rMFG] and medial orbitofrontal cortex [mOFC]) may be associated with anhedonia and avolition in psychosis. We predicted that the strength of the PPI between cerebrocerebellar (dentate) DCN, VTA, and rMFG target would be associated with worse avolition. Conversely, we hypothesized that PPI between the spinocerebellar DCN (fastigial/interposed), VTA, and mOFC would be associated with anhedonia. We predicted this functional DCN dissociation since the cerebrocerebellum is more cognitive while the spinocerebellum is more affective. PPI analysis was run on fMRI data from patients from the Human Connectome Project for Early Psychosis. Strength of the PPI was characterized as the beta of the interaction term between the DCN and VTA regressed onto the frontal target of interest. After controlling for demographics, handedness, and medication exposure, PPI between the right dentate, VTA, and rMFG was associated with avolition on the PANSS (β=-6.22, p=.013); PPI between the left interposed, right VTA and mOFC was associated with consummatory pleasure items on the CAINS (β=20.61, p=.046); and the PPI between the left fastigial, right VTA and mOFC was associated with the motivation and pleasure items on the CAINS (β=-97.45, p=.0098). These results provide preliminary evidence for symptom-circuits associations in psychosis.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Other