Research Interests

M

y research interests include the study of attention and memory through the use of physiological indices of cognition. One of the primary reasons I use physiological indices of cognition in my research is to measure processes that are automatic or take place outside of normal awareness. Specifically, I am interested in whether physiological measures related to attention and memory can be used to enhance forensic diagnosis and to develop cognitive models of psychopathology. The physiological measures I use include event-related potential (ERP) measures of brain activity, pupil size, skin conductance, and startle eyeblink modification.

Representative Professional Activities

Date	Publications/Presentations
In press	Ellwanger, J., Geyer, M. A., & Braff, D.L. The Relationship of Age to Prepulse Inhibition and Habituation of the Acoustic Startle Response. Biological Psychology.
2002	Granholm, E., Ellwanger, J., Morris, S., Braff, D., Verney, S., & Perivoliotis, D.  Pupillary response measures of cognitive overload and attentional filtering deficits in negative symptom patients with schizophrenia.  International Journal of Psychophysiology, 45, 42. Paper presented at the11th World Congress of Psychophysiology, Montreal, Canada.
2001	Ellwanger, J., Grillo, A. N., Kluegel, G. M., & Sellers, G. M. The relationship of prepulse inhibition of the startle response to attentional performance and schizotypal characteristics. Psychophysiology, 38, Suppl. 1,s39. Paper presented at the 41st annual meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Montreal, Canada.
2000	Caligiuri, M., & Ellwanger, J.  Motor and cognitive aspects of motor retardation in depression.  Journal of Affective Disorders, 57, 83-93.
2000	Ellwanger, J., Granholm, E., Verney, S., & Vukov, B.  Parasympathetic and sympathetic contributions to the pupillary orienting response. Psychophysiology, 37, Suppl. 1, s38. Paper presented at the 40th annual meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, San Diego, CA.
2000	Ellwanger, J., & Braff, D. L. (2000). Schizophrenia patients and normal controls demonstrate a similar effect of sex on prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex. Biological Psychiatry, 47, 154S.   Paper presented at the 45th annual conference of the Society for Biological Psychiatry, Chicago, IL.
1999	Ellwanger, J., Tenhula, W. N., Sweet, J. J., & Rosenfeld, J. P. Identifying simulators of cognitive deficit through combined use of neuropsychological test performance and event-related potentials. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 21, 866-879.
1999	Rosenfeld, J. P., Ellwanger, J., Nolan K., Wu, S., Bermann, R. G., & Sweet, J.  P300 scalp amplitude distribution as an index of deception in a simulated cognitive deficit model.  International Journal of Psychophysiology, 33, 3-19.
1999	Ellwanger, J., Rosenfeld, J. P., Hankin, B.L.,  & Sweet, J.J. P300 as an index of recognition in a standard and difficult match-to-sample test:  A model of amnesia in normal adults.  The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 13, 100-108.
1999	Rosenfeld, J. P., & Ellwanger, J. Cognitive psychophysiology in detection of malingered cognitive deficit. In J. J. Sweet (Ed.) Forensic Neuropsychology: Fundamentals and practice (pp. 283-302) Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
1999	Ellwanger, J., Granholm, E., Cole, D.L., Jeste, D.V., & Braff D.L. Pupillary responses as a measure of cognitive overload in older schizophrenia patients.  Biological Psychiatry, 45, 35S-36S. Paper presented at the 44th annual conference of the Society for Biological Psychiatry, Washington D.C.
1999	Ellwanger, J., & Braff, D.L.  Startle eyeblink non-responsivity increases with age in schizophrenia patients and controls. Schizophrenia Research, 36, 253-254.  Paper presented at the seventh International Congress On Schizophrenia Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 1999.
1998	Rosenfeld, J. P., Reinhart, A., Bhatt, M., Ellwanger, J., Gora, K., Sekera, M. & Sweet J. J. P300 correlates of simulated amnesia on a simple matching to sample task:  Topographic analyses of deceptive vs. truthful responses. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 28, 233-247.
1997	Ellwanger, J., Rosenfeld, J. P., & Sweet, J.  P300 event-related brain potential as an index of recognition response to autobiographical and recently learned information in closed-head-injury patients. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 11(4), 428-432.
1996	Rosenfeld, J. P., Sweet, J., Chuang, J., Ellwanger, J., & Song, L. Detection of simulated malingering using forced choice recognition enhanced with event-related potential recording. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10(2), 163-179.
1996	Ellwanger, J., Rosenfeld, J. P., Sweet, J., & Bhatt, M. Detecting simulated amnesia for autobiographical and recently learned information using the P300 event related potential.  International Journal of Psychophysiology, 23, 9-23.
1995	Rosenfeld, J. P., Ellwanger, J., & Sweet, J. Detecting malingered amnesia with event related potentials. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 19, 1-11.