Abstract

This application is a request for an ADAMHA Research Scientist Development Award, Level II. The overall aim is to provide time for the PI to engage in a multi-site systematic program of research on attentional and affective dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Attentional and affective dysfunctions have long been considered central deficits in schizophrenia, but have proven complex and difficult to measure. The startle eye-blink modification paradigm is of considerable interest because it promises to be a unique key to understanding these complex dysfunctions. The startle eye-blink paradigm involves the modification of the magnitude of the startle reflex by the presentation of a non-startling stimulus (prepulse) prior to the startle stimulus. In normal subjects, the size of the effect varies reliably with attention to the prepulse and affective properties of the prepulse. Therefore, depending upon the stimulus conditions, measures of startle eye-blink modification can provide non-verbal, non-voluntary indices of basic attentional and affective processes. Three projects are proposed in order to better understand the relationship of impaired startle eye-blink modification to attentional and affective dysfunctions in schizophrenia. The first project aims to test the state versus trait characteristics of startle eye-blink modification, and its attentional modulation, in a longitudinal study of recent-onset schizophrenic outpatients. The second project aims to test whether changes in startle eye-blink modification, and its attentional modulation, are part of early signs of psychotic exacerbation in a repeated-measures study of chronic schizophrenic patients. The third project aims to develop a new startle eye-blink modification paradigm to independently evaluate attentional and affective modulation of the startle reflex, first with college students and later with schizophrenic patients. In addition to these research projects, additional training in clinical science and neuroscience is outlined for the PI.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research (K02)
Project #
5K02MH001086-03
Application #
2240470
Study Section
Clinical Neuroscience Review Committee (CNR)
Project Start
1993-06-01
Project End
1998-05-31
Budget Start
1995-06-01
Budget End
1996-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
University of Southern California
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041544081
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089

  Publications

Cosand, Louise D; Cavanagh, Thomas M; Brown, Ashley A et al. (2008) Arousal, working memory, and conscious awareness in contingency learning. Conscious Cogn 17:1105-13
Hazlett, Erin A; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M et al. (2008) Probing attentional dysfunctions in schizophrenia: Startle modification during a continuous performance test. Psychophysiology 45:632-42
Rissling, Anthony J; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M et al. (2007) Effects of cigarette smoking on prepulse inhibition, its attentional modulation, and vigilance performance. Psychophysiology 44:627-34
Thorne, Gary L; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M (2006) Effects of perceptual load on startle reflex modification at a long lead interval. Psychophysiology 43:498-503
Rissling, Anthony J; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M et al. (2005) Effects of perceptual processing demands on startle eyeblink modification. Psychophysiology 42:440-6
Thorne, Gary L; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M (2005) Attention and prepulse inhibition: the effects of task-relevant, irrelevant, and no-task conditions. Int J Psychophysiol 56:121-8
Wynn, Jonathan K; Dawson, Michael E; Schell, Anne M (2004) The functional relationship between visual backward masking and prepulse inhibition. Psychophysiology 41:306-12
Oray, Serkan; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Dawson, Michael E (2002) Modification of sudden onset auditory ERP by involuntary attention to visual stimuli. Int J Psychophysiol 43:213-24
Hazlett, E A; Dawson, M E; Schell, A M et al. (2001) Attentional stages of information processing during a continuous performance test: a startle modification analysis. Psychophysiology 38:669-77
Medina, A M; Mejia, V Y; Schell, A M et al. (2001) Startle reactivity and PTSD symptoms in a community sample of women. Psychiatry Res 101:157-69

Showing the most recent 10 out of 21 publications