Transcript Deanna Barch: Summary of Prior Meetings

Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment
Research
to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia
Cognitive Constructs and Goals For
this Meeting
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Facilitate the use and/or development of animal
models:
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Of the types of cognitive constructs identified as
relevant to schizophrenia in CNTRICS I
That are well grounded in construct validity
That will HAVE good predictive utility in developing
novel pharmacological agents for use in individuals
with schizophrenia
The Challenges
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Humans, primates, and rodents have similar
capabilities in some areas, and not others…
What do we mean by homologous?
Why isn’t predictive utility better?
How do you know when you are measuring a
homologous process or construct?
The Goals For This Meeting
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Understand how and why constructs have been
operationalized differently across species
Develop a consensus on what it means to be
measuring a homologous process or construct
Identify ways of improving homology, either in
existing paradigms or in new paradigms
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With the goal of being able to improve predictive utility
Our goal is NOT to identify “best” paradigm or
task
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Use tasks to illustrate points
Next CNTRICS II Animal meeting will focus on paradigms
TASKS
How did we select tasks in humans?
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Surveyed the field for potential tasks
Solicited widely for nominations
Developed a database for review
Selected 1-3 tasks for each construct
 Construct validity (psychological and neural)
 Reliability
 Psychometric characteristics
 Animal model
 Studied in schizophrenia (good, but not a deal
breaker)
Perception
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Gain control: The processes whereby neurons adapt their
response levels to take into account their immediate context, in
order to make best use of a limited dynamic signaling-range.
 Nominated Tasks:
 Contrast-Contrast Effect (CCE) Task
 Contrast Sensitivity + Steady state visual evoked potentials
to magnocellular vs. parvocellular biased stimuli.
 Mismatch Negativity [ALREADY WELL DEVELOPED]
 Prepulse Inhibition of Startle [ALREADY WELL
DEVELOPED]
 Integration: The processes linking the output of neurons – that
individually code local (typically, small) attributes of a scene into global (typically, larger) complex structure, more suitable
for the guidance of behavior.
 Nominated Tasks:
 Coherent Motion Detection Task
 Contour Integration Task
 Babble Task [Construct Unclear]
Working Memory
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Goal Maintenance: The processes involved in activating task related
goals or rules based on endogenous or exogenous cues, actively
representing them in a highly accessible form, and maintaining this
information over an interval during which that information is needed to bias
and constrain attention and response selection.
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Nominated Tasks:
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AX-CPT/Dot Pattern Expectancy Task
Probabilistic Reversal Learning [Does not isolate construct]
Interference Control: The processes involved in protecting the
contents of working memory from interference from either other competing
internal representations or external stimuli.
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Nominated Tasks:
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Operation Span/Symmetry Span
Recent Probes Task
Ignore Suppress Task [Interesting, but in need of more development]
Inhibition of Currently Irrelevant Memories Task [Different Construct]
Attention
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Control of Attention: The ability to guide and/or change the
focus of attention in response to internal representations.
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Nominated Tasks:
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Guided Search
McGaughy & Sarter Sustained Attention Task
Attention Networks Task [Multiple Constructs]
Attention Capture Task [Different Construct]
Posner Spatial Cueing [Does Not Elicit Clear Deficits in
Schizophrenia]
Executive Control
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Rule Generation and Selection: The processes involved in activating
task related goals or rules based on endogenous or exogenous cues,
actively representing them in a highly accessible form, and maintaining this
information over an interval during which that information is needed to bias
and constrain attention and response selection.
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Nominated Tasks:
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1-2 AX-CPT
ID-ED Task
Groton Maze Learning Test (GMLT) [Construct Unclear]
Switching Stroop (task switching asymmetric or symmetric)
Dynamic Adjustments of Control: The processes involved in
detecting the occurrence of conflict or errors in ongoing processing,
identifying the type of control adjustments needed, and recruiting additional
control processes.
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Nominated Tasks:
 Stroop Task
 Stop Signal Task
 Simon Task [Interesting, but in need of more development]
 Attention Networks Task [Different Construct]
Long Term Memory
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Relational Encoding and Retrieval: The processes involved in
memory for stimuli/elements and how they were associated with
coincident context, stimuli or events.
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Nominated Tasks:
Associative Inference
 Relational and Item Specific Encoding and Retrieval Task (RiSE)
 Transitive Inference
 Item Encoding and Retrieval: The processes involved in memory
for individual stimuli or elements irrespective of contemporaneously
presented context or elements.
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Nominated Tasks:
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Relational and Item Specific Encoding and Retrieval Task (RiSE)
Inhibition of Currently Irrelevant Memories Task [Different
Construct]
Motivation (was part of LTM)
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Reinforcement Learning: Acquired behavior as a function of both
positive and negative reinforcers, including the ability to (a) associate
previously neutral stimuli with value, as in Pavlovian conditioning; (b)
rapidly modify behavior as a function of changing reinforcement
contingencies and (c) slowly integrate over multiple reinforcement
experiences to determine probabilistically optimal behaviors in the
long run.
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Nominated Tasks:
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PIzzagalli Reward Task
Probabilistic Reversal Learning
Probabilistic Selection Task
Weather Prediction Task [Does Not always Elicit Deficits in
Schizophrenia, depending on how you look at it]
Social and Emotional processing
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Affective Recognition and Evaluation: The ability to detect,
recognize and judge the affective value of both linguistic (e.g., seen or
spoken words and their prosodic contour) and nonlinguistic (e.g.,
images of people, facial expressions, eye gaze, scenes) stimuli.
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Nominated Tasks:
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Facial Affect Recognition and the Effects of Situational Context
Penn Emotion Recognition Task
Multimorph Task [Interesting, but in need of more
development]
Perceiving Emotion Using Point Light Walkers [Interesting, but
in need of more development]
Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task [Interesting, but in need of
more development]