Research

The Teichert lab studies auditory function in the non-human primate to better understand auditory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ). SZ suffer from sensory processing abnormalities, most notably in the auditory domain. Several studies report pitch encoding deficits, and this problem may lead to impaired perception of speech sounds and prosody, thus contributing to impaired (social) cognition in SZ. The pathological mechanisms underlying these auditory deficits are poorly understood. Functionally, these deficits reflect an inability to use past information to optimize processing of upcoming auditory stimuli. Our goal is to provide a detailed understanding of the neural networks and pathological mechanisms that underlie impaired auditory information processing in schizophrenia. To that aim we record auditory evoked neural responses in non-human primates performing simple auditory tasks while perturbing the system using targeted pharmacological and electrical interventions.

Funding