Dr. Aysenil Belger, PhD is Professor and the Director of Neuroimaging Research in Psychiatry, and Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Radiology Department at Duke University and the Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center. Her research focuses on studies of the cortical circuits underlying attention and executive function in the human brain, as well as the breakdown in these functions in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopment disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Dr. Belger combines functional magnetic resonance imaging, electrophysiological scalp recording, experimental psychology and neuropsychological assessment techniques to explore the behavioral and neurophysiological dimensions of higher order executive functions. Her most recent research projects have focused on electrophysiological abnormalities in young autistic children and children, adolescents and adults at high risk for schizophrenia. Her research also examines changes in cortical circuits and their physiological properties in children and adults at high-risk for psychotic disorders.
Despite the range of symptoms, one clinical dimension that is core to psychotic disorders and transcends diagnostic categories (Allardyce, McCreadie et al. 2007; Allardyce, Suppes et al. 2007) is cognitive disorganization (CD). CD is defined as disorganized and incoherent patterns of thought and ...more
CD is defined as disorganized and incoherent patterns of thought and behavior. Factor analyses (Bell, Low et al. 1994; Emsley, Niehaus et al. 2001; Rijsdijk, Gottesman et al. 2011; Demjaha, Valmaggia et al. 2012; Potuzak, Ravichandran et al. 2012; Russo, Levine et al. 2014; Stefanovics, Krystal e...more
Dear Kevin and Maria,
Thank you both your comments and support. I would like to specifically address Maria's thoughtful comment. As you know, the current gold standard for diagnosing psychiatric disorders is the identification of specific clinical symptoms for specific durations, many of which ...more