This is an application for an NIH Pathway to Independence Career Development Award. The candidate for this award is James P. Morris, an NRSA postdoctoral fellow at the Duke University Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. Dr. Gregory McCarthy, the former director of the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center and professor of Psychology at Yale University will serve as mentor during the mentored phase of this award. The candidate will continue his postdoctoral training with Dr. McCarthy at Yale University. The candidate's current research investigates category-specific responses in the temporal cortex, with a special emphasis on brain activity evoked by categories of stimuli with important social meaning. The candidate proposes two broad objectives for the mentored phase of this award. The first objective is to further develop the technical skills necessary to study category specific responses in the human temporal lobes with functional MRI and Intracranial ERPs. The second objective is to develop professional skills necessary to succeed as an independent investigator. These skills include the ability to present data to colleagues, mentor and guide students and collaborators, and to be able to extend knowledge to the community with the ultimate goal of fostering understanding of human disease and disorders. 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 experiments 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 of the normal human brain. ? ? ?
