This is ah application for the Independent Phase (ROO) of a Pathway to Independehte Career Development Award. The candidate for this award is James P. Morris, who is currently supported by the K99 mentored phase ofthe Pathway to Indepence Career Development Award. Dr. Morris is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University working with Dr. Gregory McCarthy a teniired faculty member in the department of psychology. The candidate's postdoctoral research focused on category-specific responses in the temporal cortex, with a special emphasis on brain activity evoked by categories of stimuli withlimportant social meaning. During the mentored phase ofthe award, the candidate leamed to design, conduct, and analyze inti^cranial event-related potential recordings in the human temporal cortex. With this technique, the candidate was able to demonstrate a fimctional dissociation between face and body processing in the fusiform gyrus. Further training focused on the application of modem fMRI unking and analysis techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging and resting connectivity analysis to help elucidate anatomical and functional connections between categOry-specifie brain regions. The independent phase of this award is focused on the development of a research program that seeks to understand the effects of both low-level stimulus factors as well as differences in motivation and behavior on brain activity during social perception. The successful completion of experiinents proposed here will lead to a solid foundation on which to build an independent research career The results from the proposed research will contribute to important discoveries being made regarding the neural correlates of social perception..
Deficits in social perception are a striking feature of autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. An understanding of how both stimulus and behavioral factors influence social processing will provide suggestions for remediatory approaches toward the treatment of these disorders, as well as the functioning ofthe normal human brain.
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