Assistant Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences
**Reviewing graduate and post-doc applications for Fall, 2024**
Research Area #1: Cerebellar Contributions to Sensorimotor Disturbances in Psychosis
Sensorimotor function is aberrant in psychosis, with 60-80% of patients being affected (Harvey et al., 2013; Kaikoushi et al., 2021). A notable feature in the field’s current understanding of the developmental processes in psychotic disorders is the presence of motor abnormalities before the onset of the disorder (Mittal and Walker, 2007; Mittal and Walker, 2009). Features in the motor system may serve as fundamental metrics of broader dysfunction in psychosis that can be traced longitudinally to understand risk of onset and symptom relapse.
In the lab, we utilize cerebellar and other motor tasks that capitalize on core processes (i.e., model prediction, execution, and updating in the motor system) while extending to other functions (e.g., cognitive prediction, decision, and belief updating), which can be useful in interrogating circuits vulnerable to the onset and maintenance of psychosis. In fact, many of these processes are critical building blocks for the success of higher-level cognitive functioning, such as learning, visuospatial processing, and executive functioning as well, giving us leads into the driving processes and neural circuits of psychopathology.
*Asterisks indicate advisees.
Research Area #2: Early Life Insults and Atypical Cerebellar Development.
Early life stress (e.g., abuse, neglect, poverty) is a major risk factor for atypical neurodevelopment, with long-term impacts on brain anatomy and biochemistry, behavioral and cognitive domains (e.g., learning and memory), and psychological domains. Such factors increase psychosis risk 2-5 fold, thereby implicating stress as an important contributor to psychosis. One possible mediator of these effects is the cerebellum, a neural structure that, while small in volume, has been estimated to contain upwards of 80% of the neurons in the human brain and cover 80% of the surface area of the cerebral cortex. The lab uses forward and reverse translational tools including animal models and large open-access datasets to clarify how early developmental insults impact the cerebellum and the functions it supports.
*Asterisks indicate advisees.
Research Area #3: Demographic Disparities and Individual Differences in Assessment, Evaluation, Conceptualization, and Treatment of the Psychosis-Spectrum.
Our work is limited by the reliability and validity of our constructs. A critical area of need is assessing the measurement and development of diagnostic and behavioral constructs and refining these assessments with the goal of (1) decreasing heterogeneity and over-inclusion in diagnosis and (2) improving the dimensional and transdiagnostic utility of current measures. An especially promising area of interest has been the influence of demographic disparities in assessment. Our work has been focused on understanding bias in self-report assessment tools of psychosis symptomology, with striking implications for research and clinical assessment.
*Asterisks indicate advisees.
The College of Arts