Lavinia Uscatescu

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Collegiate Assistant Professor
EMail
luscatescu@vt.edu
Office Hours
Tuesday 11 am - 12 pm
Wednesday 10 am - 11 am
Thursday 2 pm - 3 pm
Office Address
Williams Hall 225
Accepting Students?
Not currently accepting students
Research Center/Lab
Personalized Prediction Lab (PPL)
Web Link 2
LinkedIn
Web Link 3
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Link(s) To Publications
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Short Bio
AUGUST 2025 – Collegiate Assistant Professor, department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

JANUARY 2024 – JULY 2025: Research Assistant Professor, department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

OCTOBER 2020 – DECEMBER 2023: Post Doctoral Associate in the group of Dr. Michal Assaf, Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Healthcare and Yale School of Medicine, Hartford, CT, USA.
Interests
  • Autism
  • Psychosis
  • Visual perception
  • Differential diagnosis
  • Replicability
  • Task and resting state fMRI
  • Eye-tracking
  • Psychophysics
  • Personalized predictions
  • Interpretable Machine Learning
Recent Courses Taught
  • "Introduction to Neuroscience" & "Cognitive Neuroscience"
  • Recordings and slides available here: https://www.neurosci.ro/intro/?fbclid=IwAR0jL6Hb5urf1RCowTB_Mr4GYLntGN0l6-8xwHZf5sxpdizpntwiuMyqrlw
Select Publications
  • Ruaño, G., & USCĂTESCU, L. C. (2025). From Misophonia Through Puberphonia: Window Toward Gender Dysphoria in Autism? Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70092

  • Hyatt, C. J., Wexler, B. E., Diefenbach, G. J., Dichter, G. S., Mazefsky, C. A., USCĂTESCU, L. C., Wolf, J., Sahl, R. A., Pittman, B., Pearlson, G. D., & Assaf, M. (2025). Brain-wide connectivity changes due to social–emotional regulation during a naturalistic fMRI task. Cerebral Cortex, 35(5). ‌

  • USCĂTESCU, L. C., Hyatt, C. J., Dunn, J., Kronbichler, M., Calhoun, V., Corbera, S., Pelphrey, K., Pittman, B., Pearlson, G., & Assaf, M. (2025). Using the Excitation/Inhibition Ratio to Optimize the classification of Autism and Schizophrenia. Translational Psychiatry, 15 (1), 234.

  • USCĂTESCU, L. C., Kronbichler, M., Said-Yürekli, S., Kronbichler, L., Calhoun, V., Corbera, S., Bell, M., Pelphrey, K., Pearlson, G., & Assaf, M. (2023). Intrinsic neural timescales in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. A replication and direct comparison study. NPJ schizophrenia, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-023-00344-1

  • USCĂTESCU, L. C., Said-Yürekli, S., Kronbichler, L., Stelzig-Schöler, R., Pearce, B. G., Reich, L. A., Weber, S., Aichhorn, W., & Kronbichler, M. (2021). Reduced intrinsic neural timescales in schizophrenia along posterior parietal and occipital areas. NPJ schizophrenia, 7(1), 55. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-021-00184-x

  • USCĂTESCU, L. C., Kronbichler, L., Stelzig-Schöler, R., Pearce, B-G., Said-Yürekli, S., Reich, L-A, Weber, S., Aichhorn, W., Kronbichler, M. (2021). Effective connectivity of the hippocampus can differentiate patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls: a spectral DCM approach. Brain Topogr, 34, 762–778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00868-8

  • Kronbichler, L., Stelzig-Schöler, R., Pearce, B. G., Tschernegg, M., Said-Yürekli, S., Crone, J. S., USCĂTESCU, L. C., Reich, L. A., Weber, S., Aichhorn, W., Perner, J., & Kronbichler, M. (2019). Reduced spontaneous perspective taking in schizophrenia. Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging, 292, 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.08.007
Degrees
  • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2017 & APRIL – JULY 2018: research internship at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, working with Prof. Thomas FitzGerald.

  • OCTOBER 2015 – AUGUST 2020: full-time PhD candidate, working on a thesis titled “Connectivity in Mental Disorders”, under the supervision of Dr. Martin Kronbichler, “Imaging the Mind” Doctoral College, Paris-Lodron University, Salzburg, Austria.

  • 2013 – 2015: MSc in “Neuro-Cognitive Psychology”, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.

  • 2010 – 2012: MA in “Psychological Techniques of Behavior Control and Human Potential Development”, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

  • 2007 – 2010: BA in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.