# NIH grant: Deconstructing Delusion Mechanisms via Causal Learning (1R01MH140786-01A1) — retained record

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[original source ↗](https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R01MH140786-01A1)

## retained text



```
NIH grant 1R01MH140786-01A1: Deconstructing Delusion Mechanisms via Causal Learning
Institute: {'code': 'MH', 'abbreviation': 'NIMH', 'name': 'National Institute of Mental Health', 'admin_org_id': '12500050', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: PHILIP Robert CORLETT. Award: $827899.
Start: 2026-08-01T00:00:00.
Delusions – unfounded and often bizarre beliefs – can be a highly distressing feature of psychotic illnesses.
They frequently do not respond to pharmacological or psychosocial treatments, and advancing treatment
development requires a clearer understanding of their specific underlying mechanisms. Prior research has
implicated abnormalities in social cognition, particularly in paranoid, persecutory delusions. Other work
suggests that more general mechanisms of belief formation may underlie delusions. Prediction errors may play
a central role in both social and non-social accounts of delusions; however, the content, computations, and
implementation of these aberrant error signals have yet to be established. The goal of the current proposal is
to evaluate the roles of social and non-social prediction errors in delusions among individuals with
schizophrenia, compared to control participants without delusions. This proposal includes three specific aims
that span various levels of analysis: Specific Aim 1: Examine social and non-social Kamin blocking as
behavioral metrics of prediction error processing in patients and controls and explore their relationship with
delusion severity. Specific Aim 2: Apply state-of-the-art computational modeling to social and non-social
Kamin blocking behaviors to quantify prediction errors, learning rates, and weighting parameters relevant to
delusions. This aim will investigate whether these factors differ by task frame and if such differences are
associated with symptoms. Specific Aim 3: Use functional neuroimaging and neuromelanin scanning to
determine how social and non-social Kamin blocking is implemented in the brain and explore their relationships
to dopamine and noradrenaline sytem integrity and delusions. Together, these aims will provide a rigorous
account that spans the bio-psycho-social processes implicated in delusions. This integrated approach will
provide the foundation for developing rational and targeted treatment strategies.
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