Sonia Bansal, PhD

My research interests are directed towards understanding the role of perceptual abnormalities in origins of psychotic symptoms.. More specifically, I use a variety of approaches including behavioral/psychophysical methods, eye tracking, first-person accounts of experience and more recently, event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate the interplay between sensorimotor function, cognitive deficits and symptoms of schizophrenia (SZ). These interests are theoretically informed by basic cognitive neuroscience and theories concerning  the role of predictive mechanisms in sensorimotor control. My research agenda has the potential to further elucidate precise mechanisms underlying neurocognitive impairments and psychotic symptoms and to eventually contribute to the development of innovative and effective behavioral interventions that can improve patients' cognitive and perceptual abilities.

Schizophrenia, Cognitive Neuroscience, Visual Attention and Perception, Sensorimotor Systems

1. Bansal, S., Bray, L. C. J., Schwartz, B. L., & Joiner, W. M. (2017). Transsaccadic Perception Deficits in Schizophrenia Reflect the Improper Internal Monitoring of Eye Movement Rather Than Abnormal Sensory Processing. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Link to full Text 

2. Bansal, S., Ford, J. M., & Spering, M. (2018). The function and failure of sensory predictions. Ann NY Acad Sci, 1426(1), 199-220. Link to full text

3. Bansal, S., Murthy, K. G., Fitzgerald, J., Schwartz, B. L., & Joiner, W. M. (2019). Reduced transfer of visuomotor adaptation is associated with aberrant sense of agency in Schizophrenia. Neuroscience, 413, 108-122. Link to full text

4. Bansal, S., Robinson, B. M., Leonard, C. J., Hahn, B., Luck, S. J., & Gold, J. M. (2019). Failures in top-down control in schizophrenia revealed by patterns of saccadic eye movements. Journal of abnormal psychology, 128(5), 415. Link to full text

5. Bansal, S., Bae, G. Y., Frankovich, K., Robinson, B. M., Leonard, C. J., Gold, J. M., & Luck, S. J. (2020). Increased repulsion of working memory representations in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 129(8), 845. Link to full text

6. Bansal, S., Gaspar, J. M., Robinson, B. M., Leonard, C. J., Hahn, B., Luck, S. J., & Gold, J. M. (2020). Antisaccade Deficits in Schizophrenia Can Be Driven by Attentional Relevance of the Stimuli. Schizophrenia Bulletin.Link to full text