A 3.5-year PhD studentship funded by the MRC is available at the
University of Glasgow. The project will examine sensory predictions
in MEG-Data in schizophrenia and will be supervised by Dr. Peter
Uhlhaas and Joachim Gross.
The financial package will include a 3.5-year stipend, approved
University of Glasgow fees, Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)
and a conference allowance. An abstract of the project can be found
below. *Deadline for applicants is the 2^nd of May.*More information
can be found here:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvls/graduateschool/researchopportunities/res…
Applicants will normally be expected to reside (or have residency)
within the UK. EU nationals will have to demonstrate that they have
spent the three years prior to application resident in the UK (this
can include residence whilst undertaking undergraduate study).
**
For further information please contact: Dr. Peter Uhlhaas
peter.uhlhaas(a)glasgow.ac.uk
Neurophysiology of Dysfunctional Sensory Predictions in Schizophrenia
One core property of brain networks is the ability to predict
sensory events and to anticipate the consequences of one’s own
actions. Recent evidence suggests that failures in predictive
mechanisms may also be fundamentally involved in neuropsychiatric
disorders, such as schizophrenia. Specifically, patients with
schizophrenia are characterized by a reduced ability to distinguish
between self-generated actions and externally generated stimuli that
could underlie the development of core symptoms of the disorder,
such delusions of control and auditory hallucinations.
The proposed project will examine sensory predictions and its
relationship to neural oscillations in schizophrenia through
Magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG is ideally suited to explore this
link because of its excellent temporal resolution and previous
evidence suggesting that rhythmic activity is related to cognitive
dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Specifically, we will investigate the
neural signatures underlying the ability to differentiate between
self-generated sensory events and externally generated stimuli in
the auditory domain. To this end, we will develop a MEG-compatible
paradigm to examine sensory predictions in patients with
schizophrenia as well as in a group of individuals who are at an
elevated risk for developing psychosis to investigate the potential
role of predictions failures as a biomarker for early detection and
diagnosis.
--
Haiteng Jiang
PhD candidate
Neuronal Oscillations Group
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour
Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
Radboud University Nijmegen
Visiting address
Room 2.32
Kapittelweg 29
6525 EN Nijmegen
Tel: +31 (0)243668291
Web:
https://sites.google.com/site/haitengjiang/