Projects

Prevalence, extent, and predictors of poor outcomes after concussion/mTBI?

Many of us fall and hit our heads. Fortunatley, most of us fully recovery. But some people have lasting changes in their cognitive performance, mental and behavioral health. For example, we find working memory deficits in undergraduates with a long-ago history of mTBI (~4 years post-mTBI). We also see that adolescents with mTBI are more likely to have mental health and behavioral health issues. We continue to study the breadth of effects of mTBI. We are also studying what predicts a poor outcome, to understand who should receive extra monitoring after an injury. We are interested in understanding what underlying neural mechanism can account for lasting changes. We found weaker resting state connectivity, and are proposing collaborations to probe different levels of scale (e.g., molecular biomarkers, and multi-unit recordings in rodents).

What can subclinical populations tell us about cognition in clinical disorders?

It is difficult to recruit and test people with certain clinical disorders. Importantly, it is possible to make progress in understanding some disorders in subclinical participants who are neurotypical, but who share traits with clinical populations. For example, we are studying  auditory and visual sensory memory and working memory in participants high in schizotypy. We are testing whether working memory deficits arise from poor sensory inputs, or whether worse performance is due to working memory problems alone. This NIH funded work is in collaboration with the Haigh lab at UNR.

UNR Undergraduates:

If you are interested in working in the MB lab for NS/Psy 275/375- contact Dr. Berryhill for an interview a semester in advance!

Community Groups:

We are happy to come give presentations on brain function and our research. Give us a call! (775-682-8667)