| | Staff Scientists and Clinicians
| Andrew R. Mitz, Ph.D. |
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Dr. Mitz is a Staff Scientist for the NIMH Laboratory of Neuropsychology. 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 wide range of basic research and research-related technical development. Dr. Mitz is widely recognized 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 stimulation studies he mapped 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 action selection by recording the evolution cortical activity during various forms of visuomotor learning. More recently, Dr. Mitz has collaborated on a range of studies in rostral frontal lobe and surrounding subcortial areas, looking at strategy selection, internal representation of time, and economic decision-making.
Dr. Mitz is an expert in technologies essential to behavioral neurophysiology. He has managed or consulted on the development of research devices including: a robot arm for studying selective attention and memory, unique food and liquid delivery systems that open new opportunities for behavioral control, and new circuitry for microstimulation of the brain. Some of these devices are now commercial products. Dr. Mitz has also developed a major software tool (MatOFF) for analyzing behaviorally complex experiments. Dr. Mitz is the current project manager for NIMH Cortex, a widely-used software package for running behavioral neurophysiology experiments. His other consulting includes a falls prevention project in British Columbia and an emergency communications project for the Bethesda Hospital Emergency Partnership Program. |
| Representative Selected Recent Publications: |
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Mitz, A.R., Tsujimoto, S., Maclarty, A.J., Wise, S.P.: A method for recording single-cell activity in the frontal-pole cortex of macaque monkeys. J. Neurosci. Methods. 177:60-66, 2009. <pdf>
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Genovesio, A., Mitz, A.R.: MatOFF: A tool for analyzing behaviorally complex neurophysiological experiments. J. Neurosci. Methods. 165: 38–48, 2007. <pdf>
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Mitz, A.R.: A liquid-delivery device that provides precise reward control for neurophysiological and behavioral experiments. J. Neurosci. Methods. 148: 19-25, 2005. <pdf>
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Genovesio, A., Brasted, P.J., Mitz A.R., Wise S.P.: Prefrontal cortex activity related to abstract response strategies. Neuron. 47: 307-320, 2005. <pdf>
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Donchin, O., Gribova, A., Steinberg, O., Mitz, A.R., 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. <pdf>
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Mitz, A.R., Boring, S.A., Wise, S.P., Lebedev, M.A.: A novel food-delivery device for neurophysiological and neuropsychological studies in monkeys. J. Neurosci. Methods, 109: 129-135, 2001. <pdf>
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