Lab Work
Adolescent Health Research Program
Kristen G. Anderson
My laboratory, the Adolescent Health Research Program, collaborates with other researchers, school personnel, and treatment centers, to better understand the processes whereby youth make decisions to use alcohol and other drugs as well as make purposeful efforts to cut down, stop or quit these behaviors.
» Visit the Adolescent Health Research Program website
The Children's Motivation Project
Jennifer Henderlong Corpus
I study the developmental, situational, and dispositional factors that underlie students’ motivation to learn. More specifically, I examine the tension and synergy between intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation as well as the strategies that parents and teachers use (e.g., praise, reward systems) to enhance or unwittingly undermine such motivation.
» Visit the Children's Motivation Project website
Laboratory in Appetitive Motivation
Paul J. Currie
Work in my lab focuses on the neural bases of appetitive motivation. One line of research is directed at understanding the role of hypothalamic transmitter and peptide systems in relation to energy homeostasis and metabolism. A second line of work focuses on brain reward mechanisms including midbrain dopamine and ghrelin signaling. In a related line of research my lab is investigating the role of limbic structures in stress and anxiety. Key transmitter systems under investigation include ghrelin, the endocannabinoids and monoamine neurotransmitters.
Learning & Adaptive Behavior Laboratory
Timothy Hackenberg
Work in my lab is concerned broadly with cross-species analysis of adaptive behavior. One line of research centers on adaptive decision making, including self-control and risky choice. A second line of research concerns comparative cognition, exploring the cross-species generality of complex behavior, including self-awareness, counting, symbolic behavior, and problem solving. A third line of research centers on behavioral economics, aimed at characterizing relationships between economic behavior (demand, substitution, savings, preference) and economic variables (prices, wages, taxes, interest, framing).
» Visit the Learning & Adaptive Behavior Laboratory website
Social Psychology Research Lab, including the Student Perception Project
Kathryn C. Oleson
I study a variety of topics in the field of interpersonal perception, including perception of one’s self, individuals, and groups. My two main areas of study include research on the self and on stereotyping and prejudice.
To find out about some of my recent work on the self in academic context, visit my lab website.
Cognitive Electrophysiology - SCALP LAB
Michael Pitts & Enriqueta Canseco-Gonzalez
Our lab explores a wide range of topics from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, including sensory and perceptual processing, multi-sensory interactions, speech perception, language production and comprehension, selective attention, and consciousness. Our primary technique is electro-encephalography (EEG), from which we derive event-related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory dynamics in time-frequency space. We also employ complementary approaches including psychophysics, behavioral research, eye-tracking, and neuropsychological assessments.