Cognitive Control and its neural substrates in schizophrenia

描述（由申请人提供）：自Kraepelin（1919）和Bleepelin（1950）以来，几乎每一种精神分裂症认知功能障碍的描述都强调注意力障碍，但这种缺陷的发生部位尚不清楚。一个突出的模型提出，精神分裂症注意力障碍的位点是由于我们激活以控制我们的注意力的记忆表征的异常（即，注意力引导）。另一个领先的模型提出，对转移感知注意力很重要的神经机制本身被损坏了（即，输入选择）。在这个项目中，我将使用视觉搜索任务和非侵入性电生理方法来测试这些模型的认知功能障碍的竞争预测。我的分析将集中在视觉工作记忆，长时记忆和知觉注意力转移之间的关系，无论是在信息处理的行为反应之前的主动期和错误后的反应期。此外，我将联合收割机与非侵入性电刺激相结合，以确定是否有可能改变精神分裂症患者在视觉搜索过程中控制和使用注意力的方式。主要研究目标是利用基本的神经科学工具和见解来跟踪健康个体自上而下的控制信号的使用，并利用它们来加深我们对精神分裂症基本认知缺陷的理解。长期目标是开发干预措施，以改善这些患者的认知功能。我的主要培训目标是成为一名独立的研究者，完全有能力在临床人群中进行转化神经科学。我将通过有针对性的课程，独立的阅读系列，我的赞助商的密切监督，建立新的合作与教师在范德比尔特大学和哥伦比亚大学，并继续研究，以满足这些目标。这个转化研究培训计划将为我在一流研究型大学经营自己的实验室的职业目标做好准备。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since the time of Kraepelin (1919) and Bleuler (1950) nearly every description of schizophrenia cognitive dysfunction highlights impairments in attention, yet the locus of this deficit is not well understood. One prominent model proposes that the locus of schizophrenia attentional dysfunction is due to an abnormality in the memory representations that we activate to control our attention (i.e., attentional guidance). Another leading model proposes that the neural mechanism important for shifting perceptual attention itself is damaged (i.e., input selection). In this project, I will use visual search tasks and noninvasive electrophysiological methods to test the competing predictions of these models of cognitive dysfunction. My analyses will focus on the relationships between visual working memory, long-term memory, and shifts of perceptual attention during both the proactive period of information processing prior to the behavioral response and the reactive period after an error. Additionally, I will combine electrophysiological methods with noninvasive electrical stimulation to determine whether it is possible to change how schizophrenia patients control and use attention during visual search. The primary research goal is to take the basic neuroscientific tools and insights for tracking the use of top-down control signals in healthy individuals and use them to deepen our understanding of the fundamental cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. The long-term goal is to develop interventions to improve cognitive functioning in these patients. My primary training goal is to become an independent investigator fully competent in performing translational neuroscience with clinical populations. I will meet these goals through targeted coursework, independent reading series, close supervision by my sponsors, building new collaborations with faculty at Vanderbilt University and Columbia University, and continued research. This translational research-training program will prepare me for my career objective of running my own laboratory at a top-tier research university.