Dr. Maria Niznikiewicz received her Master’s degree in Linguistics from Wroclaw University in Poland and earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA.
Her longstanding research interests lie in the nature of human communication, particularly in how it is supported by the brain. Using tools of cognitive neuroscience, she has investigated the brain mechanisms that mediate communication and how disruptions in these processes manifest in various disease states.
At Harvard Medical School, her research focused on the effects of schizophrenia on broadly defined communication processes. She has made pioneering contributions to understanding auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Notably, she was among the first in the world to apply fMRI-based neurofeedback to help reduce such hallucinations.
Dr. Niznikiewicz has also contributed significantly to research on individuals at clinical high risk for schizophrenia. Her current work centers on multimodal neuroimaging, including:
– Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS)
– Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
– Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)
Through these methods, she aims to explore cellular and network-level brain processes underlying clinical symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia and those at elevated risk of developing the disorder.
