The Center for Neurocognition
and Emotion in Schizophrenia, a multidisciplinary
institute on the UCLA campus devoted to the study of human behavior
and mental disorders, is a collaboration between basic behavioral
scientists and clinical researchers.
Keith H. Nuechterlein, Ph.D., leads this collaborative endeavor, yet
all of the clinical investigators of the Center
have long standing interests in all aspects of schizophrenia, in
how these variables determine functional outcome, and how they change
across
phases of illness. The basic behavioral scientists all have unique
skills and talents that, when combined with the expertise of the
clinical investigators, has created a synergy that may illuminate
one of the
most perplexing of all psychiatric disorders.
The
goals of the Translational Center are to
-
Translate major advances in basic behavioral research
on cognitive and emotional processes into new clinical research;
Advance understanding of the fundamental role that core neurocognitive
and affective abnormalities play in how well individuals with
schizophrenia are able to function at community (e.g., at work,
school, and home), and
Examine different phases of illness as well as the short-term
developmental course of schizophrenia as means of shedding much
more light on the roles of the core neurocognitive and emotional
abnormalities in illness onset, progression or recovery.
To accomplish this, we have formed teams of clinical investigators
and basic behavioral investigators for four research projects. The
projects range from those addressing relatively basic neurocognitive
processes (Encoding and Retrieval Processes in Long-Term Memory,
Attention and Dual-Task Interference) to one addressing primarily
emotional processes (Stress and Emotional Reactivity) with a project
at the interface (Social Cognition in Schizophrenia).
The current
projects of the Translational Center are
-
Encoding and Retrieval Processes in Long-Term Memory In the first project,
Encoding and Retrieval Processes in Long-Term Memory, Tyrone Cannon,
Ph.D.,
UCLA
Professor
of Psychology, is using a novel behavioral science strategy probing
the functional architecture of long-term memory and its disruption
in the early course of schizophrenia. This project aims 1) To evaluate
functional dissociations between episodic and familiarity-based retrieval
and between retrieval and encoding processes in long-term memory
in healthy subjects; and 2) To evaluate the possible differential
relevance of episodic versus familiarity-based retrieval and of encoding
versus retrieval processes in long-term memory in relation to symptom
onset and functional outcome in schizophrenia. This is the first
study to test whether behavioral and physiologic deficits in particular
aspects of long-term memory precede and predict the onset of psychotic
symptoms and whether these changes are differentially related to
short-term changes in social and work outcome and to variability
in the long-term course of functional outcome in schizophrenia. If
behavioral and/or physiologic deficits in long-term memory functioning
can improve the prediction of conversion to schizophrenia above that
associated with prodromal behavioral features, this information could
lead to better theoretical specification of the mechanisms underlying
psychosis onset and eventually to improved preventive intervention
strategies. The basic scientist collaborators for this project are
Russ Poldrack, Ph.D., and Barbara Knowlton, Ph.D.. Other investigators
for this project are Mark Cohen, Ph.D., and Theo van Erp, M.A..
Attention
and Dual Task Interference The
second project, Attention and Dual Task Interference, is led by
Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D., Center Director and UCLA Professor
in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and
the Department of Psychology, and Kenneth Subotnik, Ph.D., UCLA
Research Psychologist and Associate Director of the Aftercare
Research Program. This project, is a Translational behavioral science
strategy
to bring paradigms with greater analytic power to the study of
attention in schizophrenia. Attentional deficits in schizophrenia
have been hypothesized to reflect limitations in availability
or allocation of processing resources that are not specific to type
of elementary cognitive process. However, another prominent conception
of attention in cognitive psychology that has not been examined
in schizophrenia emphasizes the role of structural processing
bottlenecks
that involve an inability to carry out certain elementary cognitive
operations in two tasks simultaneously. Through a series of psychological
refractory period studies, this project is testing the contrasting
predictions of these two models. Harold Pashler, Ph.D., who serves
as co-investigator of the University of California, San Diego,
specializes in attention and has carried out basic experimental
research on many aspects of attentional function.
Social
Cognition: Interpersonal and Emotional Processes The third project is Social Cognition: Interpersonal and Emotional Processes. Social cognition refers to how people think about other people. This project is intended to examine three aspects of social cognition across different phases of illness (prodromal, first-episode, and chronic). The three aspect of social cognition include: 1) the ability to identify types of interpersonal relationships, 2) the ability to know what people are thinking, and 3) the ability to process emotional communication. This project will provide a better understanding about how areas of social cognition are related to community functioning in schizophrenia across phases of illness. The project is led by Michael Green, Ph.D., UCLA Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. Others members of the team include Drs. William Horan, Kimmy Kee, Robert Kern, and Mark Sergi. The behavioral scientist collaborators on the project are: Alan Fiske (UCLA Department of Anthropology), Nick Haslam (University of Melbourne), and Peter Salovey (Yale University).
Stress
and Emotional Reactivity The fourth project, Stress and Emotional Reactivity, is designed
to improve our understanding of how and when individuals vulnerable
for schizophrenia respond to stress and emotionally-charged events.
Stress has long been hypothesized to play an important role in the
expression of vulnerability for schizophrenia and it remains a key
component in theories of schizophrenia. Despite the prominent role
attributed to stress, its actual contribution to the expression and
course of schizophrenia has yet to be clearly specified. By focusing
on patients in the prodromal and first episode phases of illness,
there is the opportunity to examine how stress and emotional reactivity
might contribute to the onset and progression of illness as well
as to school/work, social and daily functioning. Comparisons between
patients across early and chronic phases of illness can provide some
indication as to when some abnormalities might develop. This project
is led by Cindy Yee-Bradbury, Ph.D., UCLA Departments of Psychology
and of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, in collaboration with
Peter J. Lang, Ph.D., University of Florida and Shelley E. Taylor,
Ph.D., UCLA Department of Psychology. Other members of the team include
Kristopher Ian Mathis, Gretchen Sholty, Jane Sun, Terrance Williams
and Peter Bachman.
The Translational Center is
comprised of several "cores". Included are
-
Prevention
Research Program Core
The primary goal of the Prevention Research
Program is to provide prodromal participants with a structured, high
quality clinical
care setting within which the Center research can take place. The
objectives
of this core are to recruit patients with prodromal symptoms and
demographically comparable healthy controls, to conduct diagnostic
and screening evaluations of potential participants to determine
study eligibility and to coordinate their participation in the
Center’s
projects. Prevention Research Program Investigators include, Tyrone
Cannon, Ph.D., Mary O’Brien, Ph.D., Carrie Bearden, Ph.D.,
Melita Daley, M.D., Joseph Pierre, M.D., Alex Kopelowicz, M.D.
For more detailed information about the Prevention Research Program
please visit www.schizophrenia.ucla.edu/prevention.
Aftercare
Research Program Core
The Aftercare Research Program is an outpatient research clinic
that provides the clinical site for the recruitment, pharmacological
and psychosocial interventions, and assessments of symptoms and functional
outcome for first-episode patients who are participating in research
projects in this Center. The primary mission of the Aftercare Research
Program is to provide a structured and high quality clinical care
setting within which this Center research can take place. The Aftercare
Research Program provides a centralized and standardized process
for screening and diagnosing first-episode schizophrenia patient
participants, providing their clinical services and completing high-quality
longitudinal assessments of symptoms, work functioning, and social
functioning. For more information about the Aftercare Research Program,
please visit www.schizophrenia.ucla.edu/aftercare
Chronic Schizophrenia Recruitment and Assessment
Core
The primary function of the Chronic Schizophrenia Recruitment and
Assessment Core is to recruit and clinically assess chronic schizophrenia
patients and demographically comparable normal subjects for participation
in studies of the Center. This Core screens, recruits and conducts
diagnostic interview with the potential patient subjects and the
normal comparison subjects. This Core also completes ratings of symptom
severity and functional outcome for all chronic schizophrenia patients
who participate in Center projects.
