Science on Tap talk to discuss links between symptoms of mental illness and changes in brain activity

Dan Foti  Download Photo

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University clinical psychology professor Daniel Foti will headline the next Science on Tap with a talk discussing how different types of brain activity are affected in illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.

The talk, titled "Using Brain Activity to Diagnose Mental Illness," is at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 in the upstairs of Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette. The informal lecture is free and open to those 21 and older. The Department of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, School of Biomedical Engineering and Discovery Park sponsor the talk.

"My research links specific symptoms of mental illness with specific changes in brain functioning," Foti said. "This information could help us better understand who becomes ill, why and how to make them better."

Of particular interest, he said, is how objective measures of brain functioning can help distinguish between individuals with the "same" diagnosis, identify who is at risk of becoming ill even before symptoms develop and to better predict the course of illness over time.

Currently, mental illnesses are defined based on presenting symptoms: changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviors, Foti said. While diagnoses can be made reliably and treated effectively in many cases, current definitions do not appear to represent distinct illness categories.

In addition, the symptoms of different illnesses overlap substantially with one another and there is no objective diagnostic test or known cause for any mental illness, he said.

Foti graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 2006, where he received his bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering. He studied clinical psychology at Stony Brook University and was trained in psychophysiological methods, primarily event-related potentials, and how these methods can be applied to better understand cognitive and affective deficits in psychopathology.

Foti received his doctoral degree from Stony Brook in 2013 and completed a clinical internship at McLean Hospital in Boston.

Science on Tap, led by graduate students Nelda Vazquez, Andrew Hesselbrock and Paula Cooper, provides Purdue faculty and collaborating researchers the opportunity to share research activities in an informal setting with presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience. Attendance at the monthly event has averaged 80 during the program's first four years. 

Writers: Emily Sigg, 765-494-4719, esigg@purdue.edu 

Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu 

Sources: Dan Foti, 765-494-4804, foti@purdue.edu

Nelda Vazquez, nvazque@purdue.edu

Andrew Hesselbrock, ahesselb@purdue.edu

Paula Cooper, porourk@purdue.edu