Robert Schultz | University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology

Professor; Director of the Center for Autism Research

Department:

Pediatrics

Education:

BA, Psychology, University of Delaware; Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Texas, Austin

Address:

Center for Autism Research, 3535 Market St, Suite 860

Phone:

267-426-7540

Email:

schultzrt@chop.edu

Lab Page

Research Themes:

Psychopathology and Psychotherapy

Specific Research Areas:

Pathobiology and treatment of autism

Research Synopsis:

The Center for Autism Research (CAR) is one of the largest autism research programs in the world. We have numerous grant funded programs of research, including treatment, natural history, psychological, genetics and neuroimaging projects. Dr. Schultz’s primary interest is using genetic information to refine behavioral and brain based phenotypes in the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). He is especially interested in fMRI. He also has several grant funded projects to use technology to enhance interventions for persons with ASD.

Dr. Schultz will be accepting new psychology graduate students for admission in fall 2012.

Appointments:

Psychology Graduate Group

Advisees:

Hilary Dingfelder [Psychology Graduate Student]
Allison Nahmias [Psychology Graduate Student]

Representative Publications:

Schultz, R.T., Cho, N.K., Staib, L.H., Kier, L.E., Fletcher, J. M., Shaywitz, S.E., Shankweiler, D.P., Katz, L., Gore, J.C., Duncan, J. S.,& Shaywitz, B. Brain morphology in normal and dyslexic children: The influence of sex and age. Annals of Neurology, 1994: 35, 732-742

Schultz, R.T. Romanski, L., Tsatsanis, K. Neurofunctional Models of Autistic Disorder and Asperger Syndrome: Clues from Neuroimaging. In A. Klin, F.R Volkmar & S.S Sparrow (Eds.) Asperger Syndrome. New York: Plenum Press, 2000, 179-209.

Schultz, R.T., Gauthier, I., Klin A., Fulbright, R., Anderson, A., Volkmar, F., Skudlarski, P., Lacadie, C., Cohen, D.J., Gore, J.C. Abnormal ventral temporal cortical activity during face discrimination among individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2000: 57(3), 331-340.

Klin, A, Jones, W., Schultz, R., Volkmar, F., & Cohen, D.J. Visual fixation patterns during viewing of naturalistic social situations as predictors of social competence in individuals with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2002: 59, 809-816.

Schultz, R.T., Grelotti, D.J., Klin, A., Kleinman, J., Van der Gaag, C., Marois, R. & Skudlarski, P. The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition: Implications for the pathobiology of autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B, 2003: 358, 415-427.

Schultz, R.T. Developmental deficits in social perception in autism: The role of the amygdala and fusiform face area. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 2005: 23, 125-141.

Pasley, B.N., Mayes, L.C. & Schultz, R.T. Subcortical discrimination of unperceived objects during binocular rivalry. Neuron, 2004: 42, 163-172.

Thioux, M., Stark, D.E., Klaiman, C. & Schultz, R.T. The day of the week when you were born in 700 ms: Calendar computation in an autistic savant. Journal of Experimental Psycholology: Human Perception and Performance. 2006: 32 (5), 1155-1168

Vanderwal, T., Hunyadi, E., Grupe, D.W., Connors, C.M., Schultz, R.T. Self, Mother and Abstract Other: an fMRI study of reflective social processing. Neuroimage. 2008:41 (4), 1437-1446.

Wolf, J.M., Tanaka, J.W., Klaiman, C., Cockburn, J., Herlihy, L., Brown, C, South, M., McPartland, J., Kaiser, M.D., Phillips, R., & Schultz, R.T. Specific impairment of face processing abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder using the Let’s Face It! Skills Battery. Autism Research, 2008: 1 (6), 329-340.

Schultz, R.T. Neuroimaging research in Autism: The next decade. Autism Research, 1, 2008:317-319.

Wang, K. et al. Common genetic variants on 5p14.1 associate with autism spectrum disorders, Nature, 2009: 459(7246):528-33.