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Dr. Lencer is an Associate Professor at the University of Luebeck in
Northern Germany. She has a prestigious fellowship award from the
Alexander Humboldt Foundation to develop collaborations and conduct
studies in the Center for Cognitive Medicine. Her main research
activities involve the assessment of eye movements, especially smooth
pursuit, in psychiatric disorders. Smooth pursuit eye movements enable
us to focus on moving objects in our environment. The neural network
for smooth pursuit represents an ideal model for investigating cognitive
functions in psychiatric disorders. With respect to schizophrenia,
her recent results suggest that patients use different cortical strategies
to generate and maintain smooth pursuit eye movements. Prediction may be one
cognitive mechanism they use to overcome deficits in sensorimotor transformation
during smooth pursuit. Her work in the Center involves evaluating the effect of
antipsychotic medication on smooth pursuit using laboratory and functional brain
imaging studies. Dr. Lencer’s other research interests include the occurrence of
psychiatric disorders in genetically determined disorders like PINK1 or Parkin
associated parkinsonism.
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