The cerebral cortex is one of the crowning achievements of brain evolution, reaching highest levels of anatomical and functional complexity in humans and non-human primates. Over 80% of the cortex in these species corresponds to the association areas, which are cortical centers of cognitive information processing that subserve functions including language, planning, problem solving and working memory.

Failures of cordical behaviors result in devastating neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and autism. The work in the Kritzer laboratory explores the neurobiology that underlies the complex functions of the association cortices and the neurobiological bases for their dysfunction in disease. Our specific research direction takes its lead from the sex differences and gonadal hormone malleability that have been shown for the development, adult capacity and the incidence and character of numerous diseases that affect association cortical function. Our work addresses fundamental questions about gonadal hormone stimulation of cortical/cognitive information processing on levels that range from molecules to behavior. As we continue to identify the biological roles that circulating hormones play in modulating cognitive, affective and mnemonic brain function, we use this new information to update and pursue hypotheses about the neurobiology that mediates the highest forms of cortical information processing and the dysfunction of these processes in mental illness.