Elizabeth A. Franz

Elizabeth A. 'Liz' Franz is a New Zealand academic neuroscientist, as of 2012 is a full professor at the University of Otago.

Academic career

After a 1988 MSc titled 'An examination of the spatial and temporal limitations in bimanual coordination.' at the Purdue University, further PhD, and post-docs at UC Berkeley, Franz moved to the University of Otago, rising to full professor.

Since 2004 Franz has directed the cognitive science programme at Otago. She obtained grants from the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2011 and 2017 to investigate the genetics and neural processes underlying independent hand dexterity.

Selected works Franz, Elizabeth A., Howard N. Zelaznik, and George P. McCabe. "Spatial topological constraints in a bimanual task." Acta Psychologica 77, no. 2 (1991): 137–151. Franz, Elizabeth A., James C. Eliassen, Richard B. Ivry, and Michael S. Gazzaniga. "Dissociation of spatial and temporal coupling in the bimanual movements of callosotomy patients." Psychological Science 7, no. 5 (1996): 306–310. Franz, Elizabeth A., Howard N. Zelaznik, Stephan Swinnen, and Charles Walter. "Spatial conceptual influences on the coordination of bimanual actions: When a dual task becomes a single task." Journal of Motor Behavior 33, no. 1 (2001): 103–112. Franz, Elizabeth A., and V. S. Ramachandran. "Bimanual coupling in amputees with phantom limbs." Nature Neuroscience 1, no. 6 (1998): 443. Zhang, Y., Zhu, H., & Franz, E. (2025). Physical activity indexed using table tennis skills modulates the neural dynamics of involuntary retrieval of negative memories. Experimental Brain Research, 243, 17. doi: 10.1007/s00221-024-06948-y Lu, X., Franz, E. A., Robertson, S. P., & Markie, D. (2024). Aberrant connectivity of the lateralized readiness system in non-syndromic Congenital Mirror Movements. Clinical Neurophysiology.Nov:167:61-73. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.08.018. Epub 2024 Aug 30. Miasnikova, A., & Franz, E. A. (2022). Brain dynamics in alpha and beta frequencies underlies response activation during readiness of goal-directed hand movement. Neuroscience Research, 180, 36-47. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2022.03.004 Franz, E. A. (2020). Characterizing the phenotypes of congenital mirror movements and other rare genetic disorders. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 62(6), 669. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.14509