Abstract:

The ability to make rapid behavioral adjustments is critical in a dynamic environment, and impaired action control is associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. Rapid action modification and cancellation has been investigated using the stop-signal task and related paradigms. These paradigms require a fast response to a movement cue unless a subsequent signal is presented that instructs participants to inhibit or change the planned movement. Performance on these tasks is modeled as a race between competing STOP and GO processes, which permits an estimation of the time it takes to stop a prepared action—stop-signal reaction time. Using oculomotor versions of such tasks, nonhuman primate studies have investigated the cellular basis of reactive action control and performance monitoring. This body of neurophysiology work provides a firm basis from which to understand the brain circuits supporting reactive action control in humans. In this talk, I will present work that uses fMRI to examine the network involved in rapid cancellation, modification, and monitoring of gaze in humans. In addition, I will present a series of studies indicating reduced efficiency of action cancellation in individuals with schizophrenia that are related to symptoms and functional outcomes and more recent work demonstrating altered activation in a frontobasal network in individuals with schizophrenia while performing a modified oculomotor stop-signal task. Combined, this work provides a link between mechanisms of action control in humans and non-human primates and insights into potential mechanisms of inefficient action control in individuals with schizophrenia.

You can attend in person: 4 p.m. Chemistry & Dow Willard H Laboratory (Central Campus), Room 1300.

You can attend via Zoom: https://umich.zoom.us/j/91394388153,
passcode: 892467