Professor Norton’s research is in the realm of clinical psychological science, where he focuses on well-understood brain systems, especially the visual system, as a way to uncover how the brain and mind change in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Most of his previous work has utilized psychophysical and eye tracking methods to help understand, track, or diagnose schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s disease, and autism.
Facial Processing
Chen, Y., Norton, D., Ongur, D., & Heckers, S. (2008). Inefficient Face Detection in Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(2), 367–374. http://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbm071
Chen, Y., Norton, D., McBain, R., Ongur, D., & Heckers, S. (2009). Visual and cognitive processing of face information in schizophrenia: Detection, discrimination and working memory. Schizophrenia Research, 107(1), 92–98. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2008.09.010
Norton, D., McBain, R., Holt, D.J., Ongur, D., Chen, Y. (2009) Association of impaired facial affect recognition with basic facial and visual processing deficits in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry, 65(12), 1094-1098. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.01.026.
Norton, D., McBain, R., & Chen, Y. (2009). Reduced Ability to Detect Facial Configuration in Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals: Associations With Spatiotemporal Visual Processing. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64B(3), 328–334. http://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbp008
McBain, R., Norton, D., & Chen, Y. (2009). Females excel at basic face perception. Acta Psychologia, 130(2), 168-173. httpL//doi.org/10.1016/ j.actpsy.2008.12.005
McBain, R., Norton, D., & Chen, Y. (2010). A female advantage in basic face recognition is absent in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 177(1-2), 12–17. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2009.02.005
McBain, R., Norton, D., & Chen, Y. (2010). Differential roles of low and high spatial frequency content in abnormal facial emotion perception in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 122(1-3), 151–155. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2010.03.034
Chen, Y., Cataldo, A., Norton, D. J., & Ongur, D. (2012). Distinct facial processing in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders. Schizophrenia Research, 134(1), 95–100. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2011.08.001
Chen, Y., McBain, R., & Norton, D. (2015). Specific vulnerability of face perception to noise: A similar effect in schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals. Psychiatry Research, 225(3), 619–624. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.11.035
Visual Motion Perception
Chen, Y., Bidwell, L. C., & Norton, D. (2006). Trait vs. State Markers for Schizophrenia: Identification and Characterization through Visual Processes. Current Psychiatry Reviews, 2(4), 431–438. http://doi.org/10.2174/157340006778699729
Chen, Y., Norton, D., & Ongur, D. (2008). Altered center-surround motion inhibition in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 64(1), 74–77. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.11.017
Chen, Y., McBain, R., Norton, D., & Ongur, D. (2011). Schizophrenia patients show augmented spatial frame illusion for visual and visuomotor tasks. Neuroscience, 172, 419–426. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.10.039
Norton, D., & Chen, Y. (2011). Diminished visual motion priming in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 127(1-3), 264–265. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2010.03.009
Norton, D. J., McBain, R. K., Ongur, D., & Chen, Y. (2011). Perceptual training strongly improves visual motion perception in schizophrenia. Brain and Cognition, 77(2), 248–256. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2011.08.003
Chen, Y., Norton, D. J., McBain, R., Gold, J., Frazier, J. A., & Coyle, J. T. (2012). Enhanced local processing of dynamic visual information in autism: Evidence from speed discrimination. Neuropsychologia, 50(5), 733–739. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.01.007
Kim, J., Norton, D., McBain, R., Ongur, D., & Chen, Y. (2013). Deficient biological motion perception in schizophrenia: results from a motion noise paradigm. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 391. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00391
Chen, Y., Norton, D., & McBain, R. (2014). Effects of Domain-Specific Noise on Visual Motion Processing in Schizophrenia. PLoS ONE, 9(6), e99031. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099031
Norton, D. J., McBain, R. K., Pizzagalli, D. A., Cronin-Golomb, A., & Chen, Y. (2016). Dysregulation of visual motion inhibition in major depression. Psychiatry Research, 240, 214–221. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.04.028
Other Deficits in Schizophrenia
Norton, D., Ongur, D., Stromeyer, C., & Chen, Y. (2008). Altered “three-flash” illusion in response to two light pulses in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 103(1-3), 275–282. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2008.03.002
Chen, Y., Norton, D., & McBain, R. (2008). Can persons with schizophrenia appreciate visual art? Schizophrenia Research, 105(1-3), 245–251. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2008.06.024
McBain, R., Norton, D., Kim, J., & Chen, Y. (2011). Reduced Cognitive Control of a Visually Bistable Image in Schizophrenia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17(3), 551-556. httpL//doi.org/10.1017/S1355617711000245
Chen, Y., Norton, D., & Stromeyer, C. (2014). Prolonged temporal interaction for peripheral visual processing in schizophrenia: Evidence from a three-flash illusion. Schizophrenia Research, 156(0), 190–196. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2014.04.018
Preclinical Changes in Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer’s Disease
Norton, D.J., Amariglio, R.E., Protas, H.D., Chen, K., Aguirre-Acevedo, D.C., Pulsifer, B., Castrillón, G., Tirado, V., Muñoz, C.C., Tariot, P.N., Langbaum, J.B., Reiman, E.M., Lopera, F., Sperling, R.A., & Quiroz, Y.T. (2017). Subjective memory complaints in preclinical autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease. Neurology, 89(14), 1464-1470. http://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000004533
Quiroz, Y.T., Sperling, R.A., Norton, D.J., (2018). Association Between Amyloid and Tau Accumulation in Young Adults With Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer Disease. JAMA Neurol. 75(5), 548–556. http://doi/org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2017.4907
Deficits in Parkinson’s Disease
Putcha, D., Ross, R. S., Rosen, M. L., Norton, D. J., Cronin-Golomb, A., Somers, D. C., & Stern, C. E. (2014). Functional correlates of optic flow motion processing in Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 8, 57. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2014.00057
Norton, D. J., Jaywant, A., Gallart-Palau, X., & Cronin-Golomb, A. (2015). Normal discrimination of spatial frequency and contrast across visual hemifields in left-onset Parkinson’s disease: Evidence against perceptual hemifield biases. Vision Research, 107, 94–100. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2014.12.003
Díaz-Santos, M., Cao, B., Yazdanbakhsh, A., Norton, D. J., Neargarder, S., & Cronin-Golomb, A. (2015). Perceptual, Cognitive, and Personality Rigidity in Parkinson’s Disease. Neuropsychologia, 69, 183–193. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.044
Norton, D. J., Nguyen, V. A., Lewis, M. F., Reynolds, G. O., Somers, D. C., & Cronin-Golomb, A. (2016). Visuospatial Attention to Single and Multiple Objects Is Independently Impaired in Parkinson’s Disease. PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0150013. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150013