Early detection of Dementia: Our work in aging is primarily directed at understanding cognitive changes occurring during the early periods of degenerative processes such as Alzheimer’s disease. We are interested in how these changes occur, when they are detectable, and how they negatively impact functional independence and community tenure. Current studies include: assessment of executive function and instrumental activities of daily living in community-dwelling elders; functional brain changes in mild cognitive impairment; relationship between cognition and novel biochemical markers of Alzheimer’s disease; impact of cognitive function on caregiver/care recipient relationships.

Schizophrenia: Most of the laboratory work in schizophrenia revolves around studies of visual perceptual deficits as potential endophenotypic markers. Current work is looking at both patients and their first degree relatives across several visual tasks at the psychophysical level (visual backward masking) and the functional level (fMRI during visual processing). Our laboratory hypothesizes that deficits in the relative effectiveness of the magnocellular visual stream compared to the parvocellular stream may indicate a potent endophenotype for the disorder.

Methods of neuropsychological interpretation: Research focuses on the development and use of quantitative methods for combining diverse neurocognitive test variables under a common metric. The aim is to increase the reliability and validity of neuropsychological test data for greater accuracy of interpretation. A statistical interpretive method (Miller & Rohling, 1999) is the basic paradigm followed.

Undergraduate Research opportunities: Undergraduate students work within our laboratory on a regular basis in order to get hands on research experience. The Psychology department views these kinds of laboratory experiences as integral to the Psychology major and we encourage all UGA Psychology students to become involved in the many exciting research projects within the Department. In our laboratory, students typically work for 2 or more semesters with graduate students and Dr. Miller on specific projects that are ongoing in the lab. PSYC 4800, 4850, and a variety of Honors experiences including Honors Theses are available. Please visit the Department webpage (www.uga.edu/psychology) for more information. Our laboratory also typically supports one to two students affiliated with the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) and the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP).