Gentle deep brain stimulation to improve recognizing emotions from faces
Use of alpha-frequency deep transcranial interference stimulation (tIS) to understand and modify temporal dynamics of face emotion recognition and social/affective function.
This project uses a personalized, noninvasive brain stimulation tuned to each person's alpha rhythm to try to improve how people with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers recognize emotions in faces.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11398841 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would receive a painless, noninvasive brain stimulation called transcranial interference stimulation (tIS) that targets deep visual-thalamic circuits by producing a beat frequency matched to your individual alpha rhythm. While receiving stimulation, researchers will measure how well you identify facial emotions and record brain activity with EEG and imaging to track timing and connectivity changes. The project includes people with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers so researchers can compare responses across groups and personalize the stimulation frequency. Sessions are conducted at Columbia University and designed to monitor safety and immediate changes in social and affective processing.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with schizophrenia who have difficulty recognizing facial emotions, with healthy volunteers also enrolled for comparison.
Not a fit: People without social-cognitive difficulties, those with advanced dementia or other unstable neurological conditions, or individuals with implanted electronic devices may not be eligible or benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help improve emotion recognition and social functioning for people with schizophrenia.
How similar studies have performed: Previous noninvasive approaches like tACS and TMS have shown mixed but promising effects on brain rhythms and social cognition, while tIS is a newer method being tested here.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Javitt, Daniel C. — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Javitt, Daniel C.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.