Cameron S. Carter, Assistant Professor

Department of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: (412) 624-1454. Fax: (412) 624-3429.
Email: cscarter+@pitt.edu

Research Interests:

My work focuses on neural mechanisms of normal attention, and on the
pathophysiological processes underlying disorders of attention. Selective
attention dysfunction is a prominent and clinically relevant problem in
schizophrenia, a chronic, severe, mental illness which affects one percent
of the population worldwide and accounts for ten percent of the disability
benefits paid out annually by the Federal government. Much of the work in my
laboratory focusses on understanding this aspect of the illness, with the
goal of developing more effective therapies which can improve patients'
chances of rehabilitation. Our approach involves the integration of
behavioral studies, functional brain imaging (PET and fMRI), and where
appropriate, pharmacological manipulations, to test hypotheses regarding the
cognitive and neurobiological underpinnings of attentional deficits in
schizophrenia. Studies are also underway to systematically study the effects
of treatment on attentional pathology, with a particular interest in the
role which dopamine agonists and partial agonists may have to play in
ameliorating this aspect of the psychopathology of schizophrenia.

Recent Publications:

Carter CS, Mintun M, Cohen JD (1995). Interference and facilitation effects
during selective attention: an O15H2O PET study during Stroop task
performance. NeuroImage 2:264-272.

Ganguli R, Carter CS, Mintun M, Brar JS, Becker JT, Sarma TN, Bennington, E.
(1996) Abnormal cortical physiology in schizophrenia: a PET blood flow study
during rest and surpraspan memory performance. (In press) Biological
Psychiatry.

Carter, CS, Robertson LC, Nordahl TE, Chaderjian M, Oshora-Celaya L. (1996)
Attentional and perceptual asymmettries in schizophrenia: further evidence
for a left hemisphere deficit. In press, Psychiatry Research.

Carter, CS, Robertson LC, Nordahl TE, Kraft L, Chaderjian M, Oshora-Celaya
L. (1996) Spatial working memory deficits and their relationship to negative
symptoms in unmedicated schizophrenia patients. (In press) Biological
Psychiatry.

Carter CS, Robertson LC, Chaderjian MC, Nordahl TE. (1994) Attentional
asymmetry in schizophrenia; role of illness subtype and symptomatology,
Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, (18) 661-683.

Carter CS, Robertson LC, Nordahl TE. (1992) Abnormal processing of
irrelevant information in schizophrenia: selective enhancement of Stroop
facilitation. Psychiatry Research 41:137-146.

Carter CS, Krener P, Chaderjian M, Northcutt C, Wolfe V. (1995) Abnormal
processing of irrelevant information in attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder. Psychiatry Research 56:59-70.

Carter CS, Mintun M, Nichols T, Cohen JD. (1997) Anterior Cingulate Gyrus
Dysfunction And Selective Attentional Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: An
15O-H2O PET Study During Stroop Task Performance. American
Journal of Psychiatry, in press.

Perlstein, WM, Carter CS, Barch DM, Baird J. (1997) The Stroop Task and
Attention Deficits in Schizophrenia: A Critical Analysis of Card and
Single Trial Methodologies. Neuropsychology, in press.