Project Summary

David I. Leitman, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2008) of University of Pennsylvania, seeks to further examine the consistent impairment in the ability to interpret, as well as to express emotional and semantic content of speech as conveyed by pitch, stress and rhythm of the speech utterance that are associated with schizophrenia. Using a parametric paradigm in which pitch variability is manipulated to mediate affect recognition, Dr. Leitman will study the impact of this manipulation on the neural correlates of auditory object formation and evaluation, in both patients and healthy controls, at fixed and matched performance levels. Social cognitive impairment is an enduring and debilitating aspect of schizophrenia, and gaining a better understanding of the neural nature of this dysfunction and remediation possibilities for these deficits will benefit public health in that it may facilitate patient integration into society.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS

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