Michael-Paul Schallmo, PhD

I began my research career in the lab of Dr. Scott A. Langenecker in the Neuropsychology Division at the University of Michigan. There I completed an honors thesis, using functional MRI to study word list learning as part of my B.S. in Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science. I then completed my Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, working in the lab of Dr. Cheryl A. Olman (Department of Psychology). My doctoral work used functional MRI and behavioral psychophysics to examine how early visual processing (e.g., contrast perception) is affected by psychosis.

Next, I worked as a post-doctoral research associate in the lab of Dr. Scott O. Murray in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. This work examined how low-level vision (e.g. motion perception) is affected by autism spectrum disorder, using methods such as functional MRI, MR spectroscopy, and EEG.

I joined the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences as an Assistant Professor in August 2017. I am the Primary Investigator for an NIMH K01-funded study using EEG and MR spectroscopy to understand early visual perception in schizophrenia, and a Co-Investigator on the Psychosis Human Connectome Project. Within the department, I am a member of the Grand Rounds Committee, the Chairperson of a Junior Faculty Peer Mentorship Group, and Co-Director (with Justin Anker) of the Ambulatory Research Center Psychophysiology Laboratory.

• Career Development Award - National Institute of Health
• Grant-in-Aid Award - University of Minnesota OVPR
• Assistant Professor Startup Award - University of Minnesota Foundation
• Postdoctoral NRSA – National Institute of Health
• Graduate Research Fellowship – National Science Foundation
• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship – UMN Graduate School
• Graduate School Fellowship – University of Minnesota

• Schizophrenia International Research Society, 2019-present
• Vision Sciences Society, 2011-present
• Society of Neuroscience, 2009-present

Dr. Schallmo's interests include:

1. Disrupted perception in psychosis and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
2. The role of different neurotransmitters (e.g., GABA, glutamate) in psychosis and ASD
3. Visual neuroscience as a tool to examine specific hypotheses about the neural mechanisms of psychiatric disorders
4. Combining methods (e.g., functional MRI, EEG, MR spectroscopy, visual psychophysics, pharmacology) to study a single research question in human subjects

Schallmo, M-P., Kolodny, T., Kale, A.M., Millin, R., Flevaris, A.V., Edden, R.A.E., Gerdts, J., Bernier, R.A., Murray, S.O. (2020). Weaker neural suppression in autism. Nature Communications. 11(2675), p. 1-13. PMC7260360

Schallmo, M-P., Kale, A.M., Murray, S.O. (2019). The time course of different surround suppression mechanisms. Journal of Vision. 19(4), 12, p. 1-14. PMID: 30952163

Schallmo, M-P., Millin, R., Kale, A.M., Kolodny, T., Edden, R.A.E., Bernier, R.A., Murray, S.O. (2019). Glutamatergic facilitation of neural responses in MT enhances motion perception in humans. NeuroImage. 184, p. 925-931. PMC6230494

Millin, R., Kolodny, T., Flevaris, A.V., Kale, A.M., Schallmo, M-P., Bernier, R.A., Murray, S.O. (2018). Reduced auditory cortical adaptation in autism spectrum disorder. eLife. 7, e36493. PMC6203433

Murray, S.O., Schallmo, M-P., Kolodny, T., Millin, R., Kale, A.M., Thomas, P., Rammsayer, T.H., Troche, S.J., Bernier, R.A., Tadin, D. (2018). Sex differences in visual motion processing. Current Biology. 28(17), p. 2794-2799. PMC6133755

Schallmo, M-P., Kale, A.M., Millin, R., Flevaris, A.V., Brkanac, Z., Edden, R.A.E., Bernier, R.A., Murray, S.O. (2018). Suppression and facilitation of human neural responses. eLife. 7, e30334. PMC5812713

Schallmo, M-P., Grant, A.N., Burton, P.C., Olman, C.A. (2016). The effects of orientation and attention during surround suppression of small image features: A 7 Tesla fMRI study. Journal of Vision. 16(10), 19, p. 1-21. PMC5015919

Schallmo, M-P., Murray, S.O. (2016). Identifying separate components of surround suppression. Journal of Vision. 16(1), 2, p. 1-12. PMC4743711

Schallmo, M-P., Sponheim, S.R., Olman, C.A. (2015). Reduced contextual effects on visual contrast perception in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. Psychological Medicine. 45(16), p. 3527-3537. PMC4624017

Schallmo, M-P., Kassel, M.T., Weisenbach, S.L., Walker, S.J., Guidotti-Breting, L.M., Rao, J.A., Hazlett, K.E., Considine, C.M., Sethi, G., Vats, N., Pecina, M., Welsh, R.C., Starkman, M.N., Giordani, B., Langenecker, S.A. (2015). A new semantic list learning task to probe functioning of the Papez circuit. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 37(8), p. 816-833. PMC5065919

Schallmo, M-P., Sponheim, S.R., Olman, C.A. (2013). Abnormal contextual modulation of visual contour detection in patients with schizophrenia. PLOS ONE. 8(6), p. e68090. PMC3688981