Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Division

The aim of this project is to examine the cognitive and neural bases of attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia, with a focus on visuospatial selective attention. In particular, we are interested in abnormalities in attentional switching/priming, which we are studying with behavioral measures, event-related brain potentials (ERPs), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). A long-term goal of the project is to use the data obtained from these techniques to develop a model of abnormal attentional switching/priming in schizophrenia using connectionist techniques.

Key Words. Schizophrenia, attention, event-related brain potentials, transcranial magnetic stimulation, connectionist modeling.

Grant Support. Support for this project to KMS comes from the following sources: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Research Training Program, Dept. of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Livingston Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept. of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award NIMH F32 MH13022, "An ERP/TMS Study of Spatial Attention in Schizophrenia" (pending). Other support includes: NIMH R01 MH50740, "Computerized Image Analysis of MR Scans in Schizophrenia", to MES; and NIMH R01 MH40700, "Neurophysiological Studies of Schizophrenia", to RWM.

Project Sites. Brain Imaging Laboratory, Dept. of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System (Brockton Division); and Surgical Planning Laboratory, Dept. of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Project Director. Kevin M. Spencer, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School/VA Boston Healthcare System (Brockton Division).

Contact. Kevin M Spencer, Ph.D., Psychiatry 116A, Harvard Medical School/VA Boston Healthcare System, 940 Belmont St., Brockton, MA 02301. Tel.: (508) 583-4500 x1624. Email: kevin_spencer@http://hms.harvard.edu