William P. Hetrick

B.A., Point Loma College, 1987
M.A., California State University, 1993
Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1999
Clinical Internship, Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA

Research Interests

My research interests concern brain-behavior relationships in psychopathology. One pursuit is nested within the information processing model of schizophrenia and investigates the origins and correlates of perceptual and attentional anomalies in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Most clinical descriptions of these anomalies emphasize the observation that schizophrenics have difficulty modulating sensory inputs and experience flooding, or inundation, by sensory stimuli. My laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of California, Irvine and Ohio State University, is examining the prevalence and course of perceptual and attentional deficits in clinical populations, relationships among a number of methods of assessing sensory gating (e.g., phenomenological, cognitive-behavioral, electroencephalographic, electromyographic), the reliability of these indices, and sex-differences in sensory gating. A second area of interest concerns with-in subject response variability. Substantial intra- and inter-individual heterogeneity not only of clinical symptoms but of a variety of physiological and psychological responses is consistently reported among people suffering from schizophrenia. A third domain of research interest is behavioral neuroendocrinology.

Representative Publications

Note: asterisks indicate advisee under my direct supervision

*Carroll, C.A., Vohs, J.L., O’Donnell, B.F., Shekhar, A., and Hetrick, W.P. (in press). Sensorimotor gating in manic and mixed-episode bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders.

O'Donnell, B.F., Bismark, A., Hetrick, W.P., Bodkins, M., Vohs, J.L., and Shekhar, A. (in press). Early stage vision in schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder. Schizophrenia Research.

*Kieffaber, P.D., Kappenman, E., O'Donnell, B.F., Shekhar, A., Bodkins, M., and Hetrick, W.P. (2006). Shifting and maintenance of task set in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 84: 345-358.

Davis, R.A.O., Wilt, M.A., Murphy, R.R., Hetrick, W.P., and O'Donnell, B.F. (2006). Subjective perceptual distortions and visual dysfunction in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36: 199-210.

Kruschke, J.K., Kappenman, E.S., and Hetrick, W.P. (2005). Eye gaze and individual differences consistent with learned attention in associative blocking and highlighting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31: 830-845.

*Johannesen, J.K., Kieffaber, P.D., O'Donnell, B.F., Shekhar, A., Evans, J.D., and Hetrick, W.P. (2005). Contributions of subtype and spectral frequency analyses to the study of P50 ERP amplitude and suppression in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 78: 269-284.

Krishnan, G.P, Vohs, J.L., Carroll, C.A., Hetrick, W.P., Shekhar, A., Bockbrader, M.A., and O’Donnell, B.F. (2005). Steady State Visual Evoked Potential Abnormalities in Schizophrenia. Clinical Neurophysiology, 16: 614-624.

*Brown, S.M., Kieffaber, P.D, Vohs, J.L., Carroll, C.A., Tracy, J.A., Shekhar, A., O'Donnell, B.F., Steinmetz, J.E., and Hetrick, W.P. (2005). Eye-blink conditioning deficits indicate timing and cerebellar abnormalities in schizophrenia. Brian and Cognition, 58: 94-108.

*Kieffaber, P.D. and Hetrick, W.P. (2005). Event-Related potential correlates of task switching and switch costs. Psychophysiology, 42: 56-71.

O’Donnell, B.F., Krishnan, G.P., Vohs, J.L., Bockbrader, M., Hetrick, W.P., and Shekhar, A. (2004). Probing neural synchronization in psychiatric disorders. Proceedings of the CAITA Conference, "Advances in Internet Technologies and Applications," July 8- 11, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN.

O'Donnell, B.F., Hetrick, W.P., Vohs, J.L., Krishnan, G.P., Carroll, C.A., and Shekhar, A. (2004). Neural synchronization deficits to auditory stimulation in bipolar disorder. NeuroReport, 15: 1369-1372.

*Brenner, C.A., Edwards, C.R., Carroll, C.A., Kieffaber, P.D., and Hetrick, W.P. (2004). P50 and acoustic startle gating are not related in healthy participants. Psychophysiology, 41: 702-708.

O’Donnell, B.F.,Vohs, J. L., Hetrick, W.P., Carroll, C.A., and Shekhar, A. (2004). Auditory event related potential abnormalities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 53: 45-55.

*Zirnheld, P.J., Carroll, C.A., Kieffaber, P.D., O’Donnell, B.F., Shekhar, S., and Hetrick, W.P. (2004). Haloperidol impairs learning and error-related negativity (ERN) in humans. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16: 1098-1016.

*Carroll, C.A., O'Donnell, B.F., Shekhar, A., and Hetrick, W.P. (2004). The effects of olanzapine on sensory gating in healthy participants. Schizophrenia Research, 66: 187-188.

Sandman, C.A., Hetrick, W.P., Taylor, D.V., Marion, S.D., and Chicz-DeMet, A. (2000). Uncoupling of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) fragments is related to self-injury. Peptides, 21: 785-791.

Sandman, C.A., Hetrick, W., Taylor, D.V., Marion, S.D., Touchette, P., Barron, J. L., Martinazzi, V., Steinberg, R.M., and Crinella, F.M. (2000). Long-term effects of naltrexone on self-injurious behavior. American Journal On Mental Retardation, 105: 103-117.

Patterson, J.V., Yi, J., Gierczak, M., Hetrick, W.P., Bunney Jr, W.E., Potkin, S.G., and Sandman, C.A. (2000). Effects of temporal variability on P50 and the gating ratio in schizophrenia: A frequency domain adaptive filter single-trial analysis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57: 57-64.

Bunney Jr., W.E., Hetrick, W.P., Garland-Bunney, B., Patterson, J.V., Jin, Y., Potkin, S.G., and Sandman, C.A. (1999). A structured interview for assessing perceptual anomalies (SIAPA). Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25: 577-592.

Sandman, C.A., Thompson, T., Barrett, R.P., Verhoeven, W.M.A., McCubbin, J.A., and Hetrick, W.P. (1998). Opiate blockers. In: S. Reiss & M. G. Aman (Eds.), Psychotropic Medications And Developmental Disabilities: The International Consensus Handbook. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Nisonger Center.

Jin, Y., Bunney, Jr., W.E., Sandman, C.A., Patterson, J.V., Hetrick, W.P., and Potkin, S.G. (1998). Is P50 suppression a measure of sensory gating in schizophrenia? Biological Psychiatry, 43: 873-878.

Sandman, C.A., Wadhwa, P., Hetrick, W.P., Porto, M., and Peeke, H.V.S. (1997). Human fetal heart-rate dishabituation between thirty and thirty-two weeks gestation. Child Development, 68: 1031-1040.

Sandman, C.A., Hetrick, W.P., Taylor, D.V., and Chicz-DeMet, A. (1997). Dissociation of POMC peptides after self-injury predicts responses to centrally acting opiate blockers. American Journal on Metal Retardation, 102: 182-199.

Jin, Y., Potkin, S.G., Patterson, J.V., Sandman, C.A., Hetrick, W.P., and Bunney Jr., W.E. (1997). Effects of P50 temporal variability on sensory gating in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 70: 71-81.

Akbarian, S., Kim, J.J., Potkin, S.G., Hetrick, W.P., Bunney, W.E. Jr., and Jones, E.G. (1996). Maldistribution of interstitial neurons in prefrontal white matter of the brains of schizophrenic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53 425-36.

Akbarian, S., Sucher, N.J., Bradley, D., Tafazolli, A., Trinh, D., Hetrick, W.P., Potkin, S.G., Sandman, C.A., Bunney, W.E. Jr. and Jones, E.G. (1996). Selective alterations in gene expression for NMDA receptor subunits in prefrontal cortex of schizophrenics. Journal of Neuroscience, 16: 19-30.

Hetrick, W.P., Sandman, C.A., Bunney, Jr., W.E., Jin, Y., Potkin, S.G., and White, M.H. (1996). Gender differences in the gating of the auditory evoked potential in normal subjects. Biological Psychiatry, 39: 51-58.

Sandman, C.A. and Hetrick, W.P. (1995). Opiate mechanisms in self-injury. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 1: 130-136.

Gibson, A.K., Hetrick, W.P., Taylor, D.V., Sandman, C.A., and Touchette, P. (1995). Relating the efficacy of naltrexone in treating self-injurious behavior to the Motivation Assessment Scale. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 7: 215-220.

Sandman, C.A., Hetrick, W.P., Taylor, D.V., Barron, J.L., Touchette, P., Lott, I., Crinella, F., and Martinazzi, V. (1993). Naltrexone reduces self-injury and improves learning. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 1: 242-258.

Hetrick, W.P., Krutzik, M.N., Taylor, D.V., Sandman, C.A., Rusu, L., and Martinazzi, V.P. (1993). Naltrexone has no hepatotoxic effects in a self-injurious patient with chronic hepatitis. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 13: 453-454.

Taylor, D.V., Rush, D., Hetrick, W.P., Barron, J., and Sandman, C.A. (1993). Self-injurious behavior within the menstrual cycle of developmentally delayed women. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 97: 659-664.

Taylor, D.V., Sandman, C.A., Touchette, P., Hetrick, W.P., and Barron, J.L. (1993). Naltrexone improves learning and attention in self-injurious individuals with developmental disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 5: 29-42.

Taylor, D.V., Hetrick, W.P., Neri, C.L., Touchette, P., Barron, J.L., and Sandman, C.A. (1991). Effect of Naltrexone upon self-injurious behavior, learning and activity: A case study. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, & Behavior, 40: 79-82.

Hetrick, W.P., Isenhart, R.C., Taylor, D.V., and Sandman, C.A. (1991). ODAP: A stand-alone program for observational data acquisition. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 23: 66-71.