James Bartolotti

Dr. James Bartolotti completed his Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University in 2015. His doctoral work explored language and thought, using behavioral, eye-tracking, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods to understand language learning in bilingual adults. Dr. Bartolotti is now a postdoctoral fellow through the Life Span Institute and Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART).

Dr. Bartolotti's research is focused on the neural mechanisms linking anxiety to restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in autism spectrum disorder. Anxiety disorders affect many people with Autism, are frequently associated with an increase in RRB severity, and can be challenging to treat using standard approaches. Dr. Bartolotti's work uses functional connectivity of fMRI data to examine interactions between the neural circuits that regulate emotions and repetitive behaviors, and how these circuits are affected by anxiety in ASD.