Project Summary

Simon Killcross, Ph.D. (Independent Investigator 2001) of Cardiff University, notes that patients with schizophrenia have difficulty making use of information in the world to direct appropriate responses.  For example, in situations where ambiguous words are used (e.g., pen as either a writing implement or a place in which to keep animals), patients have more trouble using information around them (such as being in a situation where writing is appropriate) to access the correct word meaning.  The work Dr. Killcross proposes aims to make use of equivalent tests of conditional learning an performance in animals to examine the fundamental neural basis of this type of processing, using techniques that allow investigation of actual changes in level of brain neurochemicals in animals as they perform these tasks.  The research will have a more specifically targeted aim of examining the effects of recently developed atypical antipsychotic drugs to determine the differences between the behavioral & neurochemical effects of these drugs and those caused by traditional antipsychotics.  It is intended that this work will further our knowledge of the neurochemical changes that are responsible for alterations in cognitive process in schizophrenia, and also our understanding of the possible reversal of these changes by typical and atypical antipsychotics.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

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