The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship of cognitive, psychomotor, and neuropsychological dysfunctins in psychopathology, and to explore possible cortical localization of these dysfunctions in subtypes of functional psychoses. The research will be guided by the proposition that existing evidence for eye movement, information processing, and neuropsychological dysfunctions in schizophrenia point to an underlying disorder of frontal cortex mechanisms involved in modulating behavior in the context of a changing external environment and visceral inputs. A battery of eye movement, information procesing, and neuropsychological tests will be developed to differentially test frontal lobe functions, and to identify subgroups of schizophrenic and affective disorder patients with similar profiles of dysfunctions. Localization will proceed by comparing performance profiles of psychotic patients to performance profiles of selected neurological patients given the same tests. Particularly emphasized will be comparisons with patients with frontal lobe damage, right and left parietal lobe strokes, temporal lobe epilepsy, basal ganglia disease (Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease), progressive supranuclear palsy, cerebellar disease, and Alzheimer's dementia. Correlations of dysfunction profiles with brain scanning techniques, including CT scans and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), will also be obtained. Research development will consist of learning (a) neuropsychological research paradigms for assessing higher cortical function and particularly sensorimotor regulation; (b) cognitive experimental methodology for analyzing information processing and its neural substrates; (c) eye movement techniques for examining mechanisms of eye movement control, and the role of attention. Additional background training, through courses in neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and electroneurophysiology of the visual system, will be obtained to further a critical familiarity with the literature on the frontal lobes and their cortical and subcortical connections. The overall goal is to develop a neuroscience methodology for studying psychological and brain dysfunctions in the schizophrenias and the functional psychoses.
| Levin, S; Yurgelun-Todd, D; Craft, S (1989) Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 98:341-56 |
| Holzman, P S; Kringlen, E; Matthysse, S et al. (1988) A single dominant gene can account for eye tracking dysfunctions and schizophrenia in offspring of discordant twins. Arch Gen Psychiatry 45:641-7 |
| Levin, S; Luebke, A; Zee, D S et al. (1988) Smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenics: quantitative measurements with the search-coil technique. J Psychiatr Res 22:195-206 |
| Solomon, C M; Holzman, P S; Levin, S et al. (1987) The association between eye-tracking dysfunctions and thought disorder in psychosis. Arch Gen Psychiatry 44:31-5 |
