Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab - Rochester

03/12/2026

A new University of Rochester study could reshape how scientists think about perception, learning disorders, and artificial intelligence.

03/12/2026

🧠 What happens in the brain when you have to ignore distractions?

Imagine sitting in a classroom trying to focus on your teacher while other students are whispering, papers are shuffling, and chairs are scraping across the floor. Your brain has to constantly filter out irrelevant information and focus on what matters.

For most of us, this happens automatically.

But for people living with cystinosis—a rare genetic disorder best known for its effects on the kidneys—the brain may need to work harder to accomplish this everyday task.

In our new study, we asked a simple question:
How does the brain monitor and resolve conflict when distractions compete for attention? Using high-density EEG, we recorded brain activity while participants performed a classic “flanker task”—a test where distracting arrows surround a target arrow and participants must respond to the direction of the center one while ignoring the others.

What we found was fascinating.

People with cystinosis could monitor conflict just as effectively as their peers. But their brains appeared to work more effortfully to do it.

• They responded **more slowly**
• They made **more errors overall**
• Their brains showed **larger neural signals associated with conflict detection and decision-making** (the N2 and P3 responses)

In other words, the system works—but it requires extra cognitive effort.

These findings help explain why some individuals with cystinosis experience challenges in school or other complex environments where filtering distractions is essential. Understanding the neural mechanisms behind these difficulties is the first step toward developing **better supports and targeted interventions**.

Most importantly, we are deeply grateful to the individuals with cystinosis and their families who traveled across the country to participate in this research. Their commitment is helping us understand the brain in rare diseases—and how we can better support those living with them.



Sophie Molholm Dept of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester Cystinosis Foundation

Cystinosis, a rare lysosomal storage disease, is characterized by cystine crystallization and accumulation within tissues and organs, including the kidneys a...

02/21/2026

In this episode of Neuroscience Perspectives, we speak with Dr. Shafali Jeste, an internationally recognized child neurologist whose research has advanced th...

02/13/2026

🧠 New Special Issue from

🗞️ EJN - The European Journal of Neuroscience – The European has released a new special issue: The Neuronal Basis of Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and Its Clinical Applications.

This collection brings together cutting-edge insights on MMN and highlights recent advances in the field. 🔬

💭 Curious to learn more?
👉 Explore the special issue:
https://buff.ly/SQMHseM

02/04/2026

Multimodal MRI reveals selective network reorganization in subjective tinnitus, with reduced medial temporal/visual–limbic integration and increased local specialization in salience, frontal, and cer...

02/04/2026

NEW LAB COLLABORATION PAPER OUT TODAY 🧠🤝

A decade of insights from the ABCD Study reveals how **brain development, environment, genetics, and context interact** to shape adolescent mental health. This large-scale, longitudinal synthesis highlights why risk and resilience are **multivariate, nonlinear, and developmentally dynamic**—and how this knowledge can guide prevention and intervention. 📊🌱

Proud collaboration across institutions advancing developmental neuroscience and mental health science.
Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
Johnny Foxe

01/27/2026

01/27/2026

Histological analyses of triple-transgenic mouse embryos show Drd1 expression in the future excitatory neurons of the cortex (green cells in cortical plate) but not in tangentially migrating MGE cell...

01/27/2026

A CNL 2025 Wrap – a year in the life of our lab:

In 2025, our work advanced understanding of how the brain integrates, prioritizes, and adapts to sensory information across health and disease. Across human neurophysiology, computational modeling, clinical trials, animal models, and large-scale health records, we showed how multisensory signals dynamically interact to shape perception, decision-making, and action. Several studies identified altered neural encoding of sensory and speech signals in autism, spanning basic somatosensation, naturalistic audiovisual speech, and real-world behavior. Complementary work clarified mechanisms of multisensory accumulation, competition, and intersensory switching in typical brains. We also linked sensory dysfunction to developmental and disease processes, from Batten disease progression in mice to post-acute COVID sequelae and intervention outcomes in autistic children, highlighting translational and societal relevance.

1. Vanneau, T., Quiquempoix, M., Foxe, J.J., Molholm, S. Neural Mechanisms of Intersensory Switching: Evidence for Delayed Sensory Processing and Increased Cognitive Demands. NeuroImage, 2025, 309: 121089.
2. Egan, J., Gomez-Ramirez, M., Foxe, J.J., O’Connell, R., Kelly, S.P. Distinct audio and visual accumulators coactivate motor preparation for multisensory detection. Nature Human Behaviour, 2025, in press.
3. Isenstein, E.L., Freedman, E.G., Rico, G.A., Brown, Z., Tadin, D., Foxe, J.J. Adults on the autism spectrum differ from neurotypical peers when self-generating but not passively-experiencing somatosensation: a high-density electrophysiological (EEG) mapping and virtual reality study. NeuroImage, 2025, 311: 121215.
4. Vanneau, T., Crosse. M.J., Foxe, J.J., Molholm, S. Impaired neural encoding of naturalistic audiovisual speech in autism. NeuroImage, 2025, 318: 121397.
5. Schaaf, R.C., Ridgway, E.M., Jones, E., Dumont, R.L., Foxe, J.J., Conly, T., Sancimino, C., Yi, M., Mailloux, Z., Hunt, J.M., Kirschner, L., Leiby, B.E., Molholm, S. A Comparative Trial of Occupational Therapy using Ayres Sensory Integration® and Applied Behavior Analysis Interventions for Autistic Children. Autism Research, 2025, 18(10): 2120-2134.
6. Monti, M., Molholm, S., Foxe, J.J., Cuppini, C. Is competition the default configuration of cross-sensory interactions? European Journal of Neuroscience, 2025, 62(4): e70233.
7. Ding, Y., Feng, J., Prifti, V., Rico, G., Solorzano, A.G., Chang, H.E., Freedman, E.G., Foxe, J.J.¥, Hong-Wang, K. Sex-specific and age-related progression of auditory neurophysiological deficits in the Cln3 mouse model of Batten disease. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2025, 17: 67.
8. Rao S, Azuero-Dajud R, Lorman V, Landeo-Gutierrez J, …… Foxe, J.J.; RECOVER EHR and; RECOVER Pediatric Cohorts. Ethnic and racial differences in children and young people with respiratory and neurological post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: an electronic health record-based cohort study from the RECOVER Initiative. EClinicalMedicine. 2025, 80: 103042.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
Johnny Foxe

11/24/2025

Join this conversation with the world-renowned neurosurgeon and neuroscientist, Dr. Itzhak Fried. In this episode of Neuroscience Perspectives, Dr. Fried, pr...

09/19/2025

One from the Archive.
The CNL crew do Pittsburgh
L-to-R: Eric Nicholas, Ciara Molloy, Johnny Foxe, Allen Chen, Kamy WT Wakim, Luke Shaw

07/30/2025

NEW LAB PAPER OUT TODAY in NeuroImage

• In autism, audiovisual speech neural encoding deficits for both basic (acoustic envelope) and more complex (phonetic) auditory features were identified.
• Corresponding behavioral performance deficits in autism were present for audiovisual speech.
• Neural encoding and behavior for auditory-only conditions did not differ between autism and control groups.
• For both groups, neural tracking and behavior declined as more noise was added to the speech stimuli, and this did not differ between groups.
• Linear modeling of the brain response to naturalistic stimuli may improve detection of neural deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Sophie Molholm Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester