R. W. J. Neufeld Laboratory for Clinical Mathematical Psychology
Home Dr. Richard Neufeld People Students Participate Publications Student Awards Photos Contact		Dr. Richard Neufeld rneufeld@uwo.ca
	Research Activities My research interests throughout have centered on psychological stress and coping, and as well on cognitive functioning in schizophrenia. A natural outgrowth is an interest in vulnerability to stress in schizophrenia: what is it about their cognitive debilities that makes for these patients’ susceptibility, and conversely what aspects of coping present them with special problems? To a large degree, coping with stress takes mental effort. I have focused on dissecting the nature of cognitive demands involved, with an eye to explaining and measuring individual strengths and weaknesses in coping efficacy. Struck by the value of mathematical modeling as a tool for grappling with the complexities, I have endeavored to infuse each avenue of investigation with quantitative reasoning. In the case of stress and coping, for example, a game-like analysis has been used to specify how stress resolution depends on processing information requisite to the evaluation of coping options. In the case of schizophrenia cognition, mathematical models of characteristic speed and accuracy in performing mental tasks, have been modified in certain ways to capture performance deviations that occur with the disorder. Modified features indicate functions that have been affected, and features that remain intact signify functions that nevertheless are spared. Awards for these researches have included a Joey and Toby Tannenbaum Schizophrenia-Research Distinguished Scientist Award, an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, election as a Fellow of the American Association of Assessment Psychology, election as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a Faculty of Social Science Research Professorship. Augmenting my laboratory’s projects of late have been developments stemming from some important collaborations. Increased impetus for the work on stress and coping has come from the application of nonlinear-dynamical-systems theory (i.e., “chaos theory”, in the popular vernacular). The approach helps us express precisely how stress, coping and related variables continuously impact on each other over time. Rigorous analysis of our theoretical system has been lent by contributors from applied mathematics, physics, and engineering. Other collaborations, here and at the University of Alberta, in turn are availing us of the latest fMRI technology to map the neuro-circuitry of extreme stress susceptibility (post-traumatic stress disorder), and of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Research Activity a) Stress and Coping We have been constructing formal theoretical models of stress, mechanisms of coping, and coping-related demands on cognitive processes. Of focal concern has been the development of methods for estimating individual strengths and weaknesses in the required cognitive faculties, and the relation of these abilities to affinity for selected forms coping, and to efficacy of coping implementation. As the necessary information processing takes place in the company of stress, stress itself may affect processing efficiency. Stress, in other words, may compromise its own resolution. Our strategy for examining these effects has been as follows. Mathematical models of normal cognition are perturbed so as to express changes that take place under stress. The changes in model composition are deemed to unveil the adverse, and sometimes beneficial effects of stress on cognitive functioning. Recent extensions include the examination of brain-activation correlates of cognitive dysfunction associated with extremes in stress susceptibility (post-traumatic- stress disorder). This work capitalizes on state-of-the-art fMRI methodology and instrumentation, available through collaborations at the Robarts Research Institute, U.W.O., and at the University of Alberta. Our dynamical systems approach to the topic (please see biographical sketch, above) specifies that stress, coping, cognitive efficiency and environmental pressures are in a state of flux, affecting each other continuously. The parent model has been subjected to extensive computer-simulation and mathematical analyses, involving advanced model diagnostics. These analyses now have been augmented with field studies, using diary methods and the latest in hand-held computer technology. All formal analyses, and empirical testing, have been conducted in close liaison with graduate students. b) Schizophrenia Identification of cognitive dysfunction has proceeded as follows. Mathematical models of normal speed and accuracy in performing cognitive tasks are titrated to accommodate performance changes associated with schizophrenia. Similar to the case of stress effects, aspects of performance models that change indicate affected functions, and those remaining unaltered indicate functions that are spared. Invigorating recent developments include extensions of our findings to neuro-connectionist analyses, where (loosely speaking) brain circuitry is mimicked via computer simulation. They include, as well, mapping of actual neuro-circuitry of the modeled performance deviations, thanks to the above world-class fMRI facility at the Robarts Research Institute. Pursuant to these latter developments, the application of formal models of cognition holds promise of better depicting the exact cognitive functions whose brain circuitry is being assessed. Again, there has been substantial graduate student involvement in the implementation of cognitive paradigms in the fMRI environment, and in bringing to bear contemporary advances in statistical analysis of fMRI signals. Support for the work on stress and coping comes mainly from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and that on schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. c) Other Activities Additional activities include: • Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences • Fellow, American Association of Assessment Psychology • Consulting Editor, Journal of Mathematical Psychology • Past Chairman, Board of the Ontario Mental Health Foundation • Past member of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards • Examinations Committee, and past Chairman of the Academic Standards Subcommittee • Listed among the “Top 11 Men Professors from CPA-Accredited Clinical Psychology Programs” for most productive male faculty in Canadian Clinical Psychology programs (Carleton, Parkerson, & Horswill, 2012 -- Canadian Psychology, 53, 226-237). From 1998 to 2004, I helped to edit Psychological Assessment, the American Psychological Association’s journal of applied assessment technology, and deemed to be the flagship journal in the field.