My program of research is focused on understanding the interplay among cognition, emotion, and brain function to better understand the deficits in behavior and cognition found in a range of populations. These include neuropsychological syndromes such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's, as well as an additional line of research in healthy older and younger adults. There are several major themes guiding my work. One theme has been the contribution that cognitive control deficits make to thought and language disturbances in schizophrenia. By cognitive control I mean the collection of processes involved in guiding behavior in accordance with internal as well as external goals. A second theme has been to determine the neurobiological mechanisms (i.e., prefrontal cortex and dopamine deficits) that may underlie such cognitive control deficits. A third focus is the search to understand the relationship between cognitive and emotional deficits in disorders such as schizophrenia. In trying to address these issues, my work has involved both basic research designed to understand how cognitive and emotional systems normally work and clinical research focused on how and why cognitive and emotional processing can go awry.
Research Publications
Haut KM, Barch DM (2006 Aug 1). Sex influences on material-sensitive functional lateralization in working and episodic memory: men and women are not all that different. Neuroimage. 32 (1): 411-22. Full Article >
Bonner-Jackson A, Csernansky JG, Barch DM (2006 Nov 20). Levels-of-Processing Effects in First-Degree Relatives of Individuals with Schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry. Full Article >
Brahmbhatt SB, Haut K, Csernansky JG, Barch DM (2006 Oct). Neural correlates of verbal and nonverbal working memory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia and their high-risk siblings. Schizophr Res. 87 (1-3): 191-204. Full Article >
Andrews J, Wang L, Csernansky JG, Gado MH, Barch DM (2006 Mar). Abnormalities of thalamic activation and cognition in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry. 163 (3): 463-9. Full Article >
Delawalla Z, Barch DM, Fisher Eastep JL, Thomason ES, Hanewinkel MJ, Thompson PA, Csernansky JG (2006 Jul). Factors mediating cognitive deficits and psychopathology among siblings of individuals with schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull. 32 (3): 525-37. Full Article >
Barch DM (2006 Apr 28). What can research on schizophrenia tell us about the cognitive neuroscience of working memory? Neuroscience. 139 (1): 73-84. Full Article >
Contact Info
Deanna Barch, Ph.D.
Office Location: 345B Psychology Bldg.
Office Phone: 314-935-8729
Lab Phone: 314-935-8181
Campus Box: 1125
Fax: 314-935-4711
dbarch@artsci.wustl.edu
http://iac.wustl.edu/~ccpweb/
