The goals of the Psychiatric NeuroCognition lab are to investigate neural and behavioral markers of cognitive functioning in psychiatric disorders. Our research uses experimental paradigms of attention, decision-making, and sensory processing in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette's Disorder (TD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and healthy individuals. By combining measures of neural activity during task, functional connectivity, and structural connectivity using diffusion imaging, our work seeks to relate neural circuit mechanisms to behavioral dysfunction across disorders. The goals of this work are to identify neural mechanisms that can be targeted by novel treatments.
Click here for a list of publications.
Many of the studies described below are currently recruiting subjects. If you are interested in finding out more about participating in our research studies, please visit the Current Studies page.
If you want a study team member to contact you to tell you more about our studies, fill out our Study Interest Form.
research projects
Neurobiology of sensory phenomena in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and their siblings
This study investages the neurobiological mechanisms of sensory phenomena (SP) symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their unaffected siblings using task-based fMRI, resting-state functional connectivity, and diffusion MRI approaches. Sensory phenomena are uncomfortable or aversive sensory experiences or urges that drive repetitive behavior and are highly prevalent in OCD patients. Examples of these symptoms include "not-just-right" experiences that lead to ordering and arranging compulsions as well as sensations of contamination or dirtiness that lead to compulsions to clean. This project investigates the neural mechanisms of sensory phenomena in a large OCD cohort and searches for familial risk markers by also studying the siblings of patients with OCD.
See this link from the International OCD Foundation for a commentary regarding sensory symptoms in OCD and their relationship to Tourette's and tic disorders.
Neural Mechanisms of Active Avoidance in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), compulsions can be considered a form of active avoidance behaviors aimed at alleviating distress elicited by obsessions. Through a collaboration between the Psychiatric NeuroCognition Lab at NYU Langone and NKI and Dr. Mohammed Milad at University of Texas Health at Houston, this study aims to examine the neurobiology of active avoidance learning in OCD using fMRI. The overall goal of the study is to identify the neural mechanisms of active avoidance in OCD and explore how such avoidance learning is related to different OCD symptoms.
Behavioral and neural heterogeneity in OCD and major depression
OCD and major depressive disorder (MDD) are common and disabling psychiatric disorders, treatments for which have been hindered by their heterogeneity in clinical presentation and underlying mechanisms. This project investigates the heterogeneity of clinical symptoms, behavior, and brain function in OCD and MDD using hypothesis- and data-driven approaches. The overall goals of this work are to identify factors contributing to heterogeneity that can be developed as novel targets for personalized treatments.
Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Brain Function in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This pilot study investigates whether transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to modulate brain function and behavior in individuals with OCD. TMS is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that is FDA-approved for treatment in major depression and OCD. In our prior work, we have used an urge-to-blink paradigm as an experimental model of the build- up of an urge prior to repetitive behaviors in OCD (sensory phenomena before compulsions). Building from our neuroimaging studies examining the build-up and suppression of urges in OCD, this TMS study targets brain regions that are related both to failures of urge suppression in our experimental paradigm and clinical severity of sensory phenomena in patients. The aim of this study is to use TMS to modulate the neurocircuit mechanisms of pathological urges in OCD in order to ultimately reduce the clinical severity of these symptoms.
The lab is proud to be a part of ENIGMA-OCD, which is an international consortium of neuroimaging researchers who share anonymized MRI data in order to better understand the neurobiology of OCD.