| | Staff Scientists and Clinicians
| Andrew R. Mitz, Ph.D. |
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Dr. Mitz is the Staff Scientist for the NIMH Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience Section on Neurophysiology. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Engineering from Washington University and University of Maryland, respectively, and a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from Emory University. Dr. Mitz has been part of the NIMH IRP neuroscience program since 1984 where he has collaborated on a range of basic research and research-related technical development. Dr. Mitz is widely respected for his special expertise in electrophysiological methods, including the development of new methods and technologies for primate behavioral neurophysiology. |
| Research Interests |
Dr. Mitz’s early work focused on the somatotopy of frontal cortex. Through a series of studies he looked at the output organization of the primary motor cortex, pre-motor cortex, supplementary motor area, and eye fields of the frontal lobe. Subsequently, Dr. Mitz studied the activity of cortical motor areas during and after various forms of visual motor learning. More recently, his work has moved more rostral in the frontal lobe, seeking a better understanding of the pre-frontal cortex in strategy selection.
Dr. Mitz’s technical contributions include a wide range of technologies key to behavioral neurophysiology. A few of the larger projects include development of a robot arm for the study of selective attention and memory, the development of unique food and liquid delivery systems that open new opportunities for behavioral control, tools for microstimulation of the brain, a powerful software tool for analyzing the results of behaviorally complex experiments, and innovative approaches to micromanipulation of electrodes. Dr. Mitz is the current project manager for NIMH Cortex, a widely-used software package for running behavioral neurophysiology experiments. |
| Representative Selected Recent Publications: |
- Genovesio A, Mitz AR: MatOFF: A tool for analyzing behaviorally complex neurophysiological experiments. J. Neurosci. Methods, 165: 38–48, 2007.
- Mitz AR: A liquid-delivery device that provides precise reward control for neurophysiological and behavioral experiments. J. Neurosci. Methods, 148: 19-25, 2005.
- Genovesio A, Brasted PJ, Mitz AR, Wise SP: Prefrontal cortex activity related to abstract response strategies. Neuron, 47: 307-320, 2005.
- Donchin O, Gribova A, Steinberg O, Mitz AR, Bergman H, Vaadia E: Single-unit activity related to bimanual arm movements in the primary and supplementary motor cortices. J. Neurophysiol., 88: 3498-3517, 2002.
- Mitz AR, Boring SA, Wise SP, Lebedev MA : A novel food-delivery device for neurophysiological and neuropsychological studies in monkeys. J. Neurosci. Methods, 109: 129-135, 2001.
- Wise SP, Moody SL, Blomstrom KJ, Mitz AR: Changes in motor cortical activity during visuomotor adaptation. Exp. Brain Res., 121: 285-99, 1998.
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