Visual Perception

Problems in perception and attention are common in severe psychopathology and have important implications for functional recovery. However, the nature of these problems is not well understood. Research in Prof. Rassovsky’s lab aims to examine the mechanisms that may underlie early visual processing deficits in schizophrenia. We use behavioral masking and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) procedures to assess feedforward and reentrant visual processes in samples of individuals with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers. This line of research allows us to disentangle the relative contribution of these processes to visual perceptual deficits in schizophrenia and to better understand the neural substrate that may underlie these deficits. Research supported by NIMH R21 (MH082303) and the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.