Current Studies

Principal Investigator: Steven Silverstein, Ph.D. and Thomas V. Papathomas, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of three different interventions to improve visual processing in people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that has been found to include a number of subtle changes in how people process information, including problems in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and perceptual organization. This study will investigate the effects of an intervention focusing on contrast sensitivity, an intervention focused on perceptual organization, and an intervention focused on both contrast sensitivity and perceptual organization. A fourth group will participate in a standard cognitive remediation intervention that should help with thinking but that does not focus specifically on visual perception.

Funding: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Principal Investigator: Philip Yanos, Ph.D. (John Jay) and Steven Silverstein, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a range of aspects of retinal responses to light (e.g., to weak and bright light, to white and colored light, in lit and dark conditions) in people with schizophrenia of Bipolar I disorder, as well as in people without a psychiatric condition. All participants will complete three electroretinogram (ERG) examinations, as well as a session of clinical interviewing, for four study sessions in total. The data will be used to determine if aspects of ERG data can aid in the diagnosis of schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder.

Funding: diaMentis, Inc

Principal Investigator: Steven Silverstein, Ph.D.

The goal of the project is to provide children who are at elevated at-risk for the development of substance abuse issues and their families with a suite of interventions that target the individual and family-level factors that contribute to initiation of substance use and the development of substance use disorders. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel combination of behavioral interventions for reducing the development of substance abuse disorders in youth at high risk for developing them. The interventions included in this project focus on social-emotional learning, cognitive enhancement, affect management (biofeedback), and family therapy.

Funding: NJ Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Principal Investigator:Brian Keane, Ph.D.

In this grant funded study, we employ functional neuroimaging to investigate the neural basis as to why people with schizophrenia are less able to create structure from fragmented or ambiguous visual information. The proposed research will also identify the neural mechanisms of perceptual organization in bipolar disorder. Finally, the proposed research will clarify the extent to which the neural and behavioral markers of perceptual organization impairment vary with dimensions that cut across the schizo-bipolar spectrum, so as to ultimately better identify individuals who are at risk or who respond better to treatment.

Funding: NIH Career Development Award (K01MH108783-01A1)

Principal Investigator: Steven Silverstein, Ph.D., and Molly Erickson, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study is to determine if anomalies in activity in retinal cells are related to anomalies in brain responses to visual information. Past studies in schizophrenia indicate both that many people with this condition show reduced retinal responses to light, and that the signals that travel from the eye to the brain are slower and weaker than in other people. However, it is not yet known how much of the altered brain response to visual information is related to problems in the eye. We are testing people with schizophrenia, and people without a psychiatric condition, on both a test of retinal function (electroretinogram, ERG) and a test of brain response to visual stimuli (visual evoked potential).

Funding: Department Funded (UBHC-Division of Schizophrenia Research)

Principal Investigator: Molly Erickson, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether people with schizophrenia can use neurofeedback to modulate brain activity associated with successful memory storage to enhance working memory capacity. Previously, we have demonstrated that people with schizophrenia exhibit reduced desynchronization of alpha (9-13 Hz) and beta (14-30 Hz) frequency bands within the EEG during a visual working memory task. The present study extends these findings by determining whether alpha and beta modulation training through the use of a neurofeedback cue can enhance capacity for retaining these items in memory.

Funding: Brain & Behavior Research Institute

Principal Investigator: Molly Erickson, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study is to identify the mechanistic role that alpha (9-13 Hz) and beta (14-30 Hz) modulation plays during memory formation in healthy individuals, and to determine how disruption in these signals yields reduced working memory capacity in people with schizophrenia. Previously, it has been demonstrated that desynchronization of alpha and beta within the EEG during working memory tasks is associated with memory capacity among healthy individuals, and is impaired in people with schizophrenia. However, the precise role that desynchronization plays in the memory formation and maintenance process has not been identified. The present study is therefore designed to examine alpha and beta modulation under different task conditions to determine how it supports successful working memory storage.

Funding: Department Funded (UBHC-Division of Schizophrenia Research)

Principal Investigator: Thomas Papathomas, Ph.D.

Depth inversion illusions occur when people perceive a concave object (e.g., the back or hollow side of a mask) as convex. This is thought to occur because expectations stored in the brain, based on past experience, override the sensory signals coming into the brain through the eyes. Several studies have shown that depth inversion illusions are reduced in schizophrenia, leading some patients to perceive inverted or hollow stimuli more accurately than other people. We recently developed a portable apparatus for evaluating perception of depth inversion illusions that uses computer-generated three dimensional (3-D) faces that are presented on a commonly available virtual reality visor, and that is controlled by a smart phone. This study will establish the sensitivity of the task data to differentiate between people with schizophrenia and psychiatrically healthy people. Participants in this study will complete one or two sessions, which include interviews about psychiatric history, and then testing with the portable depth inversion illusion test.

Principal Investigator: Thomas Papathomas, Ph.D.

Depth inversion illusions occur when people perceive a concave object (e.g., the back or hollow side of a mask) as convex. This is thought to occur because expectations stored in the brain based on past experience override the sensory signals coming into the brain through the eyes. In past work from our laboratory we demonstrated that more accurate perception of hollow stimuli was related to a higher level of psychotic symptoms, and to less time in a clinically stable state among people with schizophrenia. This is thought to occur because both reduced depth inversion illusions and psychotic symptoms are thought to result from a temporarily reduced connection between brain regions that store expectations and those that process incoming information. In contrast, recovery from psychosis (and more frequent perception of the depth inversion illusion) is thought to involve a re-strengthening of these connections. Our prior study tested each patient one time, and each person was at a different point in their recovery process. Our current study is testing the same people at 4 different times in their treatment: at hospital admission, and then every 2 days for 6 days. This study will help to confirm whether depth inversion illusions are most reduced when patients are actively psychotic, and then whether the illusion returns as psychotic symptoms go into remission. Patients will be tested on the inpatient unit at Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, using a portable virtual-reality-based method.