People
Alicia Muzzi - Limited Term Researcher
Impact of Neonatal Alcohol Exposure on Cell Cycle Kinetics of Hippocampal Precursors
I am a student in the 4+1 program working towards a Masters degree in Neuroscience. I work in the lab of Dr. Anna Klintsova. Using a rodent model, our lab explores the impact of early alcohol exposure on the developing brain as well as potential theraputic interventions for alcohol-induced deficits, such as voluntary exercise. My Masters thesis will investigate the effect of binge-like alcohol exposure during the third trimester equivalent on the cell cycle kinetics of neuronal precursors born postnatally in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus of the rodent hippocampus.
Cognitive Neuroscience of Decision-Making and Vision
My research is devoted to two topics: decision-making and visual perception, employing neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI) and behavior/psychophysics. I often employ pattern classification methods borrowed from the field of machine learning and applied to neuroimaging data ("multivoxel pattern analysis," or MVPA), and I have interests in computational models of behavior. I am particularly interested in attention, implicit learning, and reward- and punishment-driven learning in the domains of decision-making and vision.
Decision-making and Reward
How do we learn to make optimal choices? How do we keep distinct memories for different opponents and contexts in decision-making? What are the influences of rewards and punishments on visual perception and memory? I am interested in learning and memory in decision-making under uncertainty, particularly in contexts in which each decision depends on prior choices and outcomes. I am also interested in how reward and decision-making interact with attention and may influence visual perception and other processes that are not explicitly involved in processing reward.
Visual Perception
How does the visual system determine and represent the structure of the scene? What are the consequences of perceptual organization for attention and memory? In this domain, I am interested in perceptual grouping and visual object processing, as well as visual learning, visual short-term memory, and visual attention as it relates to all of the above.
Family Functioning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
My research is grounded in family systems theory to study how the multiple relationships within the family influence each individual member. My primary research interests are in socioemotional development, parenting, and family processes in families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Recently, I have utilized a multi-method approach (i.e., interviews, surveys, behavioral coding of observations) to examining the marital and coparenting relationships of mothers and fathers of young children with ASDs.
As a teaching professor, I am also beginning to explore the use of technology and social media both inside and outside of the classroom on student engagement.
Our research focuses on understanding how events that occur during development impact later-life brain function and behavior, particularly via their influence on the neuroimmune and neuroendocrine systems.
Microglia and Neuropsychiatric Disorders. The last few decades of research have revealed that the brain is not "immune privileged". The brain has microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain that produce significant levels of cytokines and chemokines. In addition, the brain and the peripheral immune system have on-going reciprocal communication critical for altering mood, motivation, and behavior. While a significant body of literature is available on the response of microglia in the adult brain; there is a relative paucity of studies on the developmental features of microglia, and their response to early-life immune challenges. We seek to understand how developing microglia impact neural function and dysfunction, or the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Sex and the Brain. Our lab also has a fundamental interest in the effect of sex on health and disease. Many sex differences in the brain and behavior are established via exposure to circulating hormones either during development or after the onset of puberty. Evidence of this presents itself in the striking sex disparity in the onset of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Males are more likely than females to be diagnosed with disorders that present early in development including autism, dyslexia, Tourette syndrome, early-onset schizophrenia, and general learning disorders. These are often considered disorders of "wiring" in the brain. In contrast, females are more likely than males to be diagnosed with disorders that present later in life, after the onset of puberty. These include major depressive disorders, generalized anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, and late-onset schizophrenia. Many of these are considered disorders of neurochemistry in the brain. While a significant amount of research has been done to understand how sex and sex hormones influence the peripheral immune system, there has been very little research on the effects of sex and sex hormones on the neuroimmune system, or microglia, and how this may affect mental health.
In our lab we examine these questions using a combination of techniques including cell culture, molecular biology (gene expression and epigenetics), live cell imaging, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and behavior, which allows us to assess the effects of challenging the immune system during distinct periods of development on microglial and neural function.
Investigating the strategies and factors that affect accurate memory for performance materials such as music and poetry.
The amount of material that performers can memorize often exceeds what are considered to be the normal limits of memory capacity. Dr. Kristen Begosh and colleagues examine the strategies that these performers use to commit material to memory and ensure that a memory failure does not occur while they are giving a live performance.
As a member of the teaching faculty, Dr. Begoshis also interested in learning about a variety of instructional techniques that facilitate students matery of the material.
Stress and Central Arousal Systems
Peripheral hormones (e.g. glucocorticoids) and central ascending arousal systems (e.g. locus coeruleus efferents) contribute to cognitive/emotional processes that are critical for normal psychological functioning. These systems are also sensitive to stress, and under certain circumstances, may contribute to abnormal cognitive/emotional processes that result in psychiatric disorders. My research interests concern exploring how stress-induced changes in peripheral hormonal and ascending arousal systems contribute to abnormal cognitive/emotional processes.
Grant Funding
Title: Medial Prefrontal Cortex And HPA Axis Roles In Generation Of PTSD-Like, Symptoms, In SPS Model (W81XWH-08-1-0661)
Granting Agency: Department of Defense
Description of award: This was an RFP for basic science research examining the neurobiology of PTSD. Funding levels for this RFP was estimated to be at 3 % of total grant applications received by the Department of Defense.
Role: Co-Investigator. Was responsible for conducting background research (e.g. Pubmed searches), designed and performed experiments that contributed to the preliminary data set, and wrote drafts of the grant application.
Amount: $250, 000
Award period: 9/1/08 – 9/30/12
Classes
I will be teaching the following courses in Spring
Brain & Behavior (Psych 314): This class is intended for BA majors interested in acquiring general scientific knowledge about what neuroscience has taught us about brain/behavior function. Students will learn fundamental information about the cellular biology and electrophysiological properties of neurons, neuroanatomy, and how the activity of neurons can yield simple motor action and complex behavioral/psychological functions such as learning and motivation.
Neurobiology of Learning & Memory (NSCI667): The goal of this course is to educate the individual about how neural circuits mediate learning & memory, and standard methods for identifying neural circuits and processes that mediate learning and memory. A brief history of philosophical and scientific interest in learning and memory will be discussed. Next, we will discuss standard methods used in Neuroscience to investigate neural circuits that mediate learning & memory. Finally, we will have in depth discussions about specific examples of how neural circuits mediate different kinds of learning phenomena. In addition to discussing what is known about the neurobiology of learning & memory, we will also discuss significant gaps in scientific knowledge and the type of scientific effort needed to address these gaps.
Body schema, neglect, attention; cognitive neuropsychology, transcranial magnetic stimulation
Although sights and sounds are experienced starting with changes in receptor surfaces (retina, eardrum), they do not have the same embodied component as in touch. This is likely because of the seemingly veridical relationship between the location of our receptor surface (skin) and the perceived location of sensation; one that makes it difficult to conceive that our body percepts are strictly a product of neural processes. However, the relationship between neural processes and body representations is clearly evident in individuals with impairments after amputation (phantom limbs), chronic pain, or brain damage. My research is committed to understanding how we represent the body, how we integrate body representations with spatial, attentional, and motor systems, and how we represent the location of stimuli in our environment. My research uses behavioral testing with brain damaged and neurologically intact individuals. Finally, I also use non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, both to disrupt specific cognitive processes and to enhance performance in both neurologically impaired and intact individuals.
Cultural and social psychology
Recently I have investigated the concept of psychological control from a cultural psychological perspective. I am interested in how people choose to adjust to environmental realities. My research focuses on cultural, subcultural, and role demands that influence people's control choices. I have investigated the impact of cultural (specifically, Japanese and North American) and individual variables on control. We are currently working on reviews of cultural psychological studies that measure "cultural products" such as advertising, newspaper coverage, songs, or other culturally constructed environments.
Mechanisms and inhibitors of change in psychotherapy for mood and anxiety disorders
I am interested in investigating mechanisms of change and treatment development for anxiety and mood disorders. For my first-year research project, I used a dynamic systems methods to investigate how emotional processing, a widely recognized mechanism of change in psychotherapy for anxiety disorders, is related to disruption of the psychological system (the interplay between cognitions, emotions, behavior, and somatic sensations) during treatment for depression. I am currently working on my Masters project which how different ways that people can cope with and process daily stressful events might relate to their risk for developing psychopathology. I am interested in continuing both of these lines of research, in addition to looking at mechanisms of change in treatment for PTSD in children and adolescents, using data from a clinical trial being run by Dr. Hayes and our lab.
Recent Publications:
Hayes, A.M., Beck, J. G., & Yasinski, C. (in press). Cognitive behavioral perspective on corrective experiences in exposure-based treatments. In L. G. Castonguay & C. Hill (Eds.) Corrective experiences in psychotherapy. Washington, DC: APA.
Drapkin, M., Yusko, D., Yasinski, C., Oslin, D., Hembree, L. & Foa, E. (2011). Baseline Functioning Among Individuals with PTSD and Alcohol Dependence. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 41(2), 186-192.
Jayawickreme, N., Yasinski, C., Williams, M., & Foa, E. B. (2011). Gender-Specific Associations Between Trauma Cognitions, Alcohol Cravings, and Alcohol-Related Consequences in Individuals With Comorbid PTSD and Alcohol Dependence. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
Culture, Self, and Interpersonal Relationships
I am a Ph.D. student specialized in cultural/cross-cultural psychology. My current research interests lie in culture differences in self and interpersonal relationships. I am very interested in how self-other representations and self-other interactions differ between people who share divergent cultural values and beliefs. In particular, four lines of work make my research agenda at present. Firstly, I am interested in cultural differences in ideal self (i.e., personal aspirations) and ought self (i.e., social obligations) construction. Following this line, I and my colleagues revealed that different types of self-discrepancies (i.e., ideal-actual and ought-actual self-discrepancies) are less differentiated on their affective outcomes in a Collectivistic culture/among Collectivists than in an Individualistic culture/among Individualists. This suggests that Collectivists' ideal and ought self representations are less distinctive than individualists', due to different level of autonomous need. Secondly, I and my advisor are interested in how the effectiveness of different self-presentation styles (e.g., boastful vs. modest) is moderated by audience cultural value orientations (i.e., Individualism and Collectivism). Our research showed that Individualists and Collectivists favor different presentational styles and utilize different social judgment models. Thirdly, I and my advisor are interested in how cultures qualify people's first impression formation process. Our research indicated that different social perception dimensions (e.g., personal competence vs. social competence) are valued by different cultures or people endorsing different cultural value orientations, and this in turn exerts different impacts on social outcomes. Finally, I and my advisor are working on a new multi-dimensional measure of Individualism-Collectivism. Series of our studies so far have validated this measure.
I am interested in the role of social influence in all aspects of public opinion; especially, how individuals process and make judgments about political information. My current research focuses on three related lines of inquiry: 1) how public opinion is affected by contextual factors like question order, question wording, and interviewer characteristics, 2) the measurement and conceptualization of resentment, especially racialized resentment, and 3) the psychological consequences of diversity in organizations. My research has been published in leading peer-reviewed outlets such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Public Opinion Quarterly, the DuBoise Review, and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. I teach courses in political psychology, public opinion, statistics and data analysis, race and politics, and American government. I also supervise the "Blue Hen Poll" at the University of Delaware, a scientific survey of UD students conducted by undergraduate students interested in applied research.
Preventative Interventions in School and Community Settings
My research is focused on the implementation and evaluation of preventative interventions that target youth aggressive behavior problems and promote social-emotional competencies. I am particularly interested in evidence-based programming for at-risk youth in school, community outpatient, and juvenile justice settings, as well as how individual (age; gender; ethnicity) and contextual factors moderate intervention outcomes.
As Dr. Guerra's advisee in the Prevention and Culture Lab (PAC-LAB), I am involved in several domestic and international projects related to youth violence prevention. We recently conducted a pilot study of the cognitive-behavioral, core-competency based Positive Life Changes program for at-risk adolescents, and a randomized trial of Madres a Madres (Mothers to Mothers), a home-visitation program for low-income, immigrant Latina mothers and their children. International projects in our lab include a planned randomized trial of the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, and community-based work in Honduras.
Attachment, Developmental Psychopathology, Intervention
My research centers around understanding how attachment relationships relate to pathological and normative development "from cradle to grave." Broadly, I aim to understand parents', peers', and romantic partners' putative roles in the development of psychopathology. I am also interested in the extent to which close relationships contribute to life satisfaction and how improvements in these relationships contribute to meaningful life change for individuals and families.
Parenting Intervention after Early Adversity
I am a first year student working with Mary Dozier in the Infant Caregiver Lab. I am interested in the efficacy, effectiveness and dissemination of the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up intervention for children who have faced early adversity. For my first year project, I am investigating parent trainer behavior as a moderating factor that influences the intervention's success. I am also involved in projects examining the moderating effects of risk factors on the success of the intervention.
Aggression, social cognition, and preventive interventions
My research focuses on understanding and preventing children's aggression and behavior problems of youth, particularly youth violence. I also am very interested in the role of culture in the etiology of behavior and implications for the design and implementation of prevention programs in the U.S. and internationally. My work is grounded in social-cognitive theory, emphasizing the role of children's thought processes and beliefs in determining and modifying behavior. I have been involved in the development and evaluation of several large scale prevention programs. I was the principal investigator for the Metropolitan Area Child Study, an 8-year development and prevention study with urban and inner city children in Chicago, funded by NIMH. A primary finding of this work was that community context is an important moderator of prevention outcomes. Specifically, a multi-component, multi-context 2-year program was effective in reducing children's aggression, but only in moderate resource communities (not in the poorest, inner-city settings). I was the principal investigator for an evaluation of a district wide SAMHSA-funded Safe Students project in Southern California that was designed to promote healthy development and prevent risk through Wellness Centers in school settings.
More recently, as part of a CDC-funded Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention, I was involved in the implementation and evaluation of an evidence-based parent-child interaction therapy program for low-income immigrant Latino families, which led to the development of a home visitation child development parent training program, Madres a Madres, to address the unique needs of immigrant families. I also developed a competence-based cognitive-behavioral intervention for adolescents, Positive Life Changes, that currently is being evaluated in alternative school and juvenile justice settings in California and Connecticut.
An important focus of my research is on the application of child development and prevention research across different cultural settings and internationally. I have worked on projects funded by The World Bank, The Interamerican Development Bank, USAID, and other donor agencies over the past several years. These projects have emphasized enhancing children's development, improving educational and youth service settings, and preventing problem behaviors in Latin American and the Caribbean. Countries I have worked in include Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, and Trinidad.
Grant Funding
2000-2003 Principal Investigator, "Southern California Developing Center of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevention," CDC, $1,197,000
2001-2003 Principal Investigator, "Aggression and social cognition among urban and inner-city youth," NICHD, $550,000
2003-2005 Principal Investigator, "Southern California Developing Center of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevention" (renewal), CDC, $774,123
2005-2011 Principal Investigator,"Southern California Academic Center of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevenation," CDC, $4.3 million.
I moved to the University of Delaware in 2011, where I am Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, after serving as the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Center and leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My research pursues normal and abnormal brain mechanisms in cognition, emotion, and psychopathology. Interests include executive function, emotional processing, and sensory perception as well as development of multimodal neuroimaging methods. Studies in collaboration with Prof. Robert Simons at U. Delaware address abnormal cognition in anxiety and other problems. MRI and EEG studies in collaboration with Profs. Wendy Heller, Brad Sutton, and Marie Banich at U. Illinois and U. Colorado address the mutual effects of emotion and executive function, with a particular interest in differentiation of depression and anxiety. A collaboration with Profs. Brigitte Rockstroh and Thomas Elbert and Drs. Nathan Weisz, Tzvetan Popov, and Astrid Steffen at the U. of Konstanz (Germany) pursues MEG and EEG studies of compromised sensory, emotional, and cognitive processing in schizophrenia and nonspecific effects of stress. Publications include philosophy-of-science and policy issues that arise in psychological and biological research as well as data papers and tutorials on method issues in psychophysiology / cognitive neuroscience.
Using neuroscience methodologies to understand stigma, prejudice and prejudice reduction
As a social neuroscientist, my research utilizes cognitive neuroscience methodologies such as electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and lesion studies to investigate how different contexts affect the way we attend to and interpret information. Specifically, my research examines how priming negative stereotypes associated with stigmatized individuals in our society, e.g. minorities and women, may ironically engender situations where these individuals inadvertently reinforce the stereotype and bias the way they perceive themselves and others perceive them. My research program revolves around two primary topics: 1) How negatively stereotyped targets’ motivation, attention, and memory is affected by situations that prime negative group relevant stereotypes both in the moment and over time, and 2) How factors such as contextual primes or genetic predispositions undermine a person’s ability to perceive novel, negatively stigmatized outgroup members in a non-biased manner. My approach to these topics utilizes an integrative social neuroscience perspective by examining how these processes are influenced by interactions between implicit (i.e., fast) and explicit (i.e., slow) cognitive processes and the physiological interactions between subcortical and prefrontal cortical networks that are integral to implicit and explicit processing in general.
Future research will examine how negative stereotypes alter the way targets and perceivers encode information in a given context, how negative stereotypic contexts undermine targets' domain identification over time and how individuals can be trained to overcome their implicit biases using techniques grounded in theories of neural function. Stay tuned!
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
My research interests center around one main question: How does the brain "make" a memory? I investigate this question by directly recording from neurons in areas of the brain that are thought to support the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of declarative memories. This approach lends some insight into how both individual and large networks of neurons, both within and across different brain regions, might "code" for the various aspects of a memory. The malfunction of these networks is also implicated in a host of diseases and disorders, ranging from Alzheimer's disease to Schizophrenia. In order to understand how abnormalities in these brain circuits contribute to these maladies, it will be critical to first understand how these circuits function normally. To that end, I have started to compare normal function in these brain areas with neural activity in models of early-life caregiver maltreatment, which has been shown to severely impair both memory and brain function throughout the lifespan. Going forward, my main goals are to examine how these key neural circuits function during memory formation, and how early-life maltreatment might disrupt these processes.
Comparative animal cognition and neurobiology
From mammals to reptiles, my research uses a multidisciplinary approach and integrative techniques to address spatial questions broadly centered in the fields of spatial behavior, cognition, and neurobiology. Where is an organism at a given point in time and why is it there? What navigation mechanisms are used to move from location to location? How is sensory information integrated and processed to influence spatial decision making, perception, learning, and memory? What biological, ecological, neurobiological, cognitive, and evolutionary factors interact to produce spatial behavior?
My dissertation work examined the complexity of spatial interactions from a behavioral and ecological perspective. Projects included radio-telemetry studies to explore movement patterns and spatial use of a snake population (cottonmouth: Agkistrodon piscivorus), as well as related projects focused on anti-predator behavior, behavioral and brain lateralization, foraging behavior, social interactions, conservation impacts of buffer zones around riparian habitats, and neuro-ecological correlates between regional brain volumes and aspects of cottonmouth spatial ecology. My postdoctoral research transitioned to exploring the molecular (DNA methylation, epigenetic molecular mechanisms) and neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial behavior. This involved recording from spatial representations in the brain (cognitive maps: hippocampal place cells) of rats using in vivo neurophysiology techniques and EEG analysis as rats performed spatial tasks to investigate aspects of spatial navigation, decision making, and learning and memory.
My ongoing research maintains a spatial focus with 3 broadly defined goals: 1) Define patterns of spatial behavior and ecology; 2) Use integrative techniques (molecular, neurobiological, cognitive, ecological) to investigate mechanisms underlying behavior; and 3) Apply results to big picture concepts (comparisons across taxa, conservation implications, evolutionary history, fitness, biodiversity).
Neurobiology of Emotion
My research focuses on expanding insight into three areas: (1) The neurobiology of innate fear, (2) the neurobiology of learning and memory, and (3) the biological mechanisms associated with early-life stress.
(1) The neural circuitry and molecular changes associated with processing innate fear stimuli are still unclear. My research focuses on understanding the molecular changes in immediate early gene and neuropeptide transcription (e.g., corticropic releasing hormone (crh), early growth response -1 (egr-1), c-fos, and enkephalin) associated with experiencing predator odors in specific brain regions (e.g., bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, amygdala, paraventricular nucleus, etc.). Particularly, the ecological relevance and non-learned behavioral correlates of experiencing predatory cues may help to expand on the neurobiological and neuroanatomical underpinnings of fear and anxiety-related disorders. Using techniques in molecular cloning, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in situ hybridization, and pharmacological lesions, is helping us to elucidate the neurobiological changes associated with experiencing innately fearful stimuli.
(2) Associative learning in relation to the long-term memory of aversive contexts (i.e., standard contextual fear conditioning or sCFC) is helping to expand our understanding of how contextual representations are processed in brain. By using immediate early-gene expression mapping (e.g., egr-1, ngfi-b, bdnf) we are investigating the neuroanatomical (i.e., hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex) and molecular correlates of learning, updating, consolidating, and retrieving context representations during a variation of sCFC in the brain.
(3) Early-life stress has important and long lasting effects in the form of physical and mental-health related changes in later life. Determining biomarkers associated with experiencing adverse early-life stress is essential towards expanding our understanding of the associated biological changes. Recent evidence has suggested that telomere biology may be a candidate for measuring the cumulative impact of chronic early-life stress. Using techniques in quantitative PCR, we are beginning to unravel the relationship between telomere length and maternal behavior in early-life.
Postnatal alcohol exposure and hippocampal neurogenesis
Broadly, I am interested in the effects of early life experiences on measures of learning and memory, such as hippocampal neurogenesis and plasticity. I am a first year PhD student in Dr. Anna Klintsova's lab. My first year project will be focusing on the effects of postweaning wheel running and environmental complexity on survival of new cells in the hippocampus in rats exposed to postnatal alcohol.
Group Processes
My primary research focus is to understand cooperative and competitive behavior in social dilemmas - decisions offering alternatives that differ in whether they promote self interest (competition) or a collective interest (cooperation). Research on a construct called Social Value Orientation (SVO) shows that individuals reliably differ in how the percieve social dilemmas and behave as a result. My work examines the effects of nonverbal communication (particularly the facial expression of emotions) on decisions to cooperate and compete for people with different SVO's. Currently, I am working to expand this research to examine cross-cultural differences in social dilemma behavior and also psychophysiological correlates of social dilemma behavior.
My second research focus is on group decision-making processes. Specifically, I am interested in how expressions of constructive dissenting opinions arise and affect group outcomes. Dissent can have a variety of benefits for groups including the prevention of group polarization and groupthink, but expressing dissent is generally not beneficial for individuals. This leads to the interesting questions of why people choose to express dissent, what types of people are more likely to dissent, what situational factors are more conducive to dissent, and when does dissent actually work?
Evidence-Based Practice, Community Interventions, and Dissemination Science
My work involves integrating research into community-based interventions - particularly interventions for children, adolescents, and their families. This includes conducting community-based research, studying the dissemination of evidence-based practice, and building capacity for communities to collect and utilize their own data. I am particularly interested in the relationships between researchers, expert trainers, clinical organizations, therapists, and the broader communities in which they are based. In addition, I am interested in the development of technologies to facilitate the use of evidence within community settings.
My interests have led me to research within juvenile justice and child mental health agencies. I have conducted randomized clinical trials with community settings. In addition, I have worked with agencies to guide them in the development of scientifically sound program evaluation strategies. In each case, I am impressed by the importance of building collaborative relationships that facilitate positive organizational change around the use of evidence.
Behavioral epigenetics
Our research focuses on defining molecular mechanisms responsible for environmental influences on CNS gene activity, development of behavior, and psychiatric disorder. Our current research efforts utilize a rodent model of early-life experience to understand the relationship between early environmental manipulations and epigenetic programming of patterns of gene expression and cognition. Behavioral and biochemical approaches are used in infant, adolescent, and adult animals to address this relationship. This has led to the discovery that epigenetic molecular mechanisms potentially underlie the lifelong and transgenerational perpetuation of changes in the brain and behavior incited by an adverse caregiving environment.
Through a collaboration with David Diamond at the University of South Florida, our recent work has also expanded into exploring epigenetic alterations in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder. Our results indicate that traumatic stress occurring in adulthood can induce stable changes in methylation and expression of an important plasticity-related gene within the hippocampus, and provide important insight into the complex gene-by-environment interactions that likely underlie PTSD.
Mechanisms and processes of change in psychotherapy; Regulation and processing of emotions; Alexithymia
I am a clinical science graduate student working with Adele Hayes. My main research interests include the mechanisms and processes of psychotherapy, particularly how one's ability to identify, tolerate, and regulate emotions influences treatment progress and the maintenance of treatment gains. As part of this line of research, I study both how improvements in emotion regulation may be associated with positive change and how deficits in emotion regulation may interfere with adaptive processing and treatment progress. Recent projects include examining how the concept of alexithymia, characterized as a lack of emotional awareness and difficulty expressing emotional experiences to others, may inhibit productive processing of a negative autobiographical event. In addition to these research areas, I have a particular interest in the mechanisms and processes of treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and am currently working on a project to examine the association between cognitive processing of a traumatic event and treatment outcome in children receiving Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for PTSD symptoms.
language acquisition and processing, event representation, word learning
How do children learn to make sense of the world around them, and how do they learn to describe it? In my research, I use experimental methodologies like preferential looking and eyetracking to investigate the mapping between conceptual and linguistic representations of events. I am especially interested in understanding how event construal and description differ across languages and with linguistic and conceptual development. Specific areas of interest include how children represent and label multi-part events like causatives and motion events, what crosslinguistic patterns of linguistic encoding can tell us about event construal, and how early conceptual knowledge might provide a foundation for universal linguistic categories.
Recent Publications
Anderson, M. J., & Robinson, P. A. (2012) Preliminary evidence of behavioral lateralization in the Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita. Avian Ecolology & Behaviour 21(2012), 3–12
Recent Publications
Close, H., Lee, L. C., Kaufmann, C. N., and Zimmerman, A. (2012, Feb.). Co-Occurring Conditions and Change in Diagnosis in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Pediatrics.
Recent Publications
Barnes, J.B., Dickstein, B.D., Maguen, S., Neria, Y., & Litz, B.T. (2011) The distinctiveness of prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress disorder in adults bereaved by the attacks of September 11th. Journal of Affective Disorders, 136(3), 366-369.
Recent Publications
Ly, A.R., & Goldberg, W.A. (revised and resubmitted). New measure for fathers of children with developmental challenges. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.
Abdullah, M.M.*, Ly, A.R.*, Goldberg, W.A., Clarke-Stewart, K.A., Dudgeon, J., Mull, C.F., Chan, T.J., Kent, E., Mason, Z. (2012). Heavy Metal in Children's Tooth Enamel: Related to Autism and Disruptive Behaviors? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 929-936. doi: 10.1007/s10803-011-1318-6 *co-first authors with order determined alphabetically
Matthews, N., Goldberg, W., Lukowski, A.F., Osann, K., Abdullah, M., Ly, A.R., Thorsen, K.L., and M.A. Spence (2012). Does theory of mind performance differ in children with early-onset and regressive autism? Developmental Science, 15, 25-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01094.x
Recent Publications
Schwarz JM and Bilbo SD. Adolescent Morphine Exposure Affects Long-Term Microglial Function and Later-Life Relapse Liability in a Model of Addiction. Journal of Neuroscience 2013 Jan; 33(3): 961-71.
Bilbo SD and Schwarz JM. The immune system and developmental programming of brain and behavior. Frontiers in Neuoendocrinology 2012 Aug;33(3):267-86.
Schwarz JM, Sholar PW, Bilbo SD. Sex differences in microglial colonization of the developing rat brain. Journal of Neurochemistry. 2012 Mar;120(6):948-63
Schwarz JM, Bilbo SD. Sex, glia, and development: Interactions in health and disease. Hormones and Behavior. 2012 Feb 22.
Bilbo SD, Smith SH, Schwarz JM. A Lifespan Approach to Neuroinflammatory and Cognitive Disorders: A Critical Role for Glia. (Review) J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2011 Aug 6.
Schwarz JM and Bilbo SD. The Immune System and Brain Development. Series entitled: The Developing Brain. 2011 (Book).
Schwarz JM and Bilbo SD. LPS elicits a much larger and broader inflammatory response than Escherichia coli infection within the hippocampus of neonatal rats. Neuroscience Letters. (2011) Jun 22; 497(2): 110-5.
Schwarz JM, Hutchinson MR, Bilbo SD. Early-Life Experience Decreases Potential Abuse Liability of Morphine in Adulthood via Microglial-Specific Epigenetic Programming of Anti-Inflammatory IL-10 Expression. Journal of Neuroscience (2011) 31(49):17835-17847
Wright CL, Schwarz JM, Dean SL, McCarthy MM. Cellular mechanisms of estradiol mediated sexual differentiation of the brain. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism. (Review) 2010; (21) 553-561.
Schwarz JM, Nugent BM, McCarthy MM. Developmental and Hormone-Induced Epigenetic Changes to Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Genes in Brain Are Dynamic across the Life Span. Endocrinology. (2010) Oct; 151(10): 4871-8.
Schwarz JM, Liang SL, Thompson SM, McCarthy MM. Estradiol induces dendritic spines on developing hypothalamic neurons by enhancing glutamate release independent of transcription: A mechanism for an organizational sex difference, Neuron (2008) May 22; 58(4): 584-98.
Schwarz JM and McCarthy MM. The role of neonatal NMDA receptor activation in defeminization and masculinization of sex behavior in the rat. Hormones and Behavior (2008) Nov; 54(5): 662-8.
Hadjimarkou MM, Benham R, Schwarz JM, Holder MK, Mong JA. Estradiol suppresses activation of putative sleep neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic area of the adult rat. European Journal of Neuroscience (2008) Apr; 27(7): 1780-92.
Todd BJ, Schwarz JM, Mong JA, and McCarthy MM. Glutamate AMPA/kainate receptors, not GABAA receptors, mediate estradiol induced sex differences in hypothalamic dendritic spines. Developmental Neurobiology. (2007) Jan; 67(3): 304-15.
Todd BJ, Schwarz JM, and McCarthy MM. Prostaglandin E2: A point of divergence in estradiol mediated sexual differentiation. (2005) Hormones and Behavior.Dec; 48(5): 512-21.
Numan M, Numan MJ, Schwarz JM, Neuner CM, Flood TF, and Smith CD. Medial preoptic area interactions with the nucleus accumbens - ventral pallidum circuit and maternal behavior in rats. Behavioral Brain Research (2005) Mar 7; 158(1): 53-68.
Recent Publications
Demos, A. P., Chaffin, R., Begosh, K. T., Daniels, J. R., & Marsh, K. L. (2011). Rocking to the beat: Effects of music and partners movements on spontaneous interpersonal coordination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 49-53.
Chaffin, R., Lisboa, T., Logan, T., & Begosh, K. T. (2010). Preparing for memorized cello performance: The role of performance cues. Psychology of Music, 38, 3-30.
Begosh, K. T., Chaffin, R., Silva, L.C., Ginsborg, J., & Lisboa, T. (2010). Embodied effects on musicians' memory of highly polished performances. In S. M. Demorest, S. J. Morrison, & P. S. Campbell (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. (pp. 482-486). Seattle, WA: Casual Productions.
Chaffin, R., Logan, T. R., & Begosh, K. T. (2009). Performing from memory. In S. Hallam, I. Cross, & M. Thaut (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music psychology (pp. 352-363). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Recent Publications
- Knox, D., Stout, S., Tan, M., George, S.A., and Liberzon, I. (2012). Single prolonged stress enhancement of glucocorticoid receptor expression is partially attenuated by early handling. Neuroscience Letters (submitted).
- Eagle, A., Knox, D., Roberts, M.M., Mulo, K., Liberzon, I., Galloway, M.P., and Perrine, S.A. (2012). Neuroscience Research, (accepted). doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2012.11.001
- George, S.A., Knox, D., Curtis, A., Valentino, R., and Liberzon, I. Altered noradrenergic activity in an animal model of PTSD. (2012) European Journal of Neuroscience, doi: 10.1111/ejn.12095
- Knox, D., Nault, T., Henderson, C., Liberzon, I. (2012). Glucocorticoid Receptors And Extinction Retention Deficits In The Single Prolonged Stress Model. Neuroscience 223: 163-173.
- Knox, D., Fitzpatrick, C.J., George, S.A., Abelson, J.A., and Liberzon, I. (2012). Unconditioned fear is enhanced in an appetitive context. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory: (97)4: 386 - 392.
- Knox, D., George, S.A., Fitzpatrick, C.J., Rabinak, C., Maren, S., and Liberzon, I. (2012). Single prolonged stress disrupts retention of extinguished fear in rats. Learning & Memory, 19(2): 43 - 49.
- Liberzon, I and Knox, D. (2012). Expanding Our Understanding Of Neurobiological Mechanisms Of Resilience By Using Animal Models. Neuropsychopharmacology, 37(2): 317 - 318.
- Fitzpatrick, C., Knox, D., and Liberzon, I. (2011). Inactivation of the prelimbic cortex enhances TMT-induced freezing. Behavioural Brain Research: 221(1): 320 – 323.
- Knox, D., Perrine, S, George, S., Galloway, M., and Liberzon, I. (2010). Single prolonged stress decreases glutamate, glutamine, and creatine concentrations in the rat medial prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience Letters, 480(1): 16 – 20.
- Knox, D. and Berntson, G. G. (2008). Cortical modulation by nucleus basalis magnocellularis corticopetal cholinergic neurons during anxiety-like states are reflected by decreases in delta. Brain Research 1227: 142 – 157.
- Knox, D., Holly B., Norman, J. G., and Berntson G. G., (2008). Nucleus basalis magnocellularis and substantia innominata corticopetal cholinergic lesions attenuate freezing induced by predator odor. Behavioral Neuroscience 122(3): 601-610.
- Knox, D., and Berntson, G. G., (2006). Effect of nucleus basalis magnocellularis cholinergic lesions on fear-like and anxiety-like behavior. Behavioral Neuroscience 120(2): 307-312.
- Lorzano, D.L., Norman, J. G., Knox, D., Wood, B. L., Miller, B. D., Emery, C. F., and Berntson, G. G. (2006). Where to B in dZ/dt. Psychophysiology 44(1): 113-119.
- Knox, D., Berntson, G. G., and Sarter, M. (2004). Visceral afferent bias on cortical processing: role of adrenergic afferents to the basal forebrain cholinergic system. Behavioral Neuroscience 118(6): 1455-1459.
- Berntson, G. G., Shafi, R., Knox, D. and Sarter, M. (2003). Blockade of epinephrine priming of the cerebral auditory evoked response by cortical cholinergic deafferentation. Neuroscience 116: 179-86.
Recent Publications
Medina, J., Beauvais, J., Datta, A., Bikson, M., Coslett, H.B., & Hamilton, R.H. (2012). Transcranial direct current stimulation accelerates allocentric target detection. Brain Stimulation, in press.
Medina, J., Norise, C., Faseyitan, O., Coslett, H.B., Turkeltaub, P., & Hamilton, R. (2012). Finding the Right Words: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Improves Discourse Productivity in Non-fluent Aphasia After Stroke. Aphasiology, in press.
Khurshid, S., Trupe, L.A., Newhart, M., Davis, C., Molitoris, J.J., Medina, J., Leigh, R., & Hillis, A.E. (2012). Reperfusion of Specific Areas is Associated with Improvement in Distinct Forms of Hemispatial Neglect. Cortex, 48, 530-539.
Coslett, H.B., Medina, J., Kliot, D., & Burkey, A. (2010). Mental motor imagery indexes pain: The hand laterality task. European Journal of Pain, 14, 1007-1013.
Medina, J., Jax, S.A., Brown, M.J., & Coslett, H.B. (2010). Contributions of Efference Copy to Limb Localization: Evidence from Deafferentation. Brain Research, 1355, 104-111.
Representative Publications
Medina, J. & Coslett, H.B. (2010). From Maps to Form to Space: Touch and the Body Schema. Neuropsychologia, 48, 645-654.
Medina, J., Kimberg, D.Y., Chatterjee, A., Coslett, H.B. (2010). Inappropriate usage of the Brunner-Munzel test in recent voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping studies. Neuropsychologia, 48, 341-343.
Medina, J., Kannan, V., Pawlak, M., Kleinman, J., Newhart, M., Davis, C., Heidler-Gary, J., Herskovits, E., & Hillis, A. (2009). Neural substrates of visuospatial processing in distinct reference frames: Evidence from unilateral spatial neglect. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 2073-2084.
Medina, J., Jax, S.A., & Coslett, H.B. (2009). Two-Component Models of Reaching: Evidence from Deafferentation in a Fitts’ Law Task. Neuroscience Letters, 451, 222-226.
Medina, J. & Rapp, B. (2008). Phantom tactile sensations modulated by body position. Current Biology, 18, 1937-1942.
Recent Publications
Chen, F. F., Jing, Y., & Lee, J. (2012). "I" value competence but "We" value social competence: The moderating role of voters' Individualistic and Collectivistic orientation in predicting political elections. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1350-1355.
Chen, F. F., Jing, Y., Hayes, A., & Lee, J. (in press). Two concepts or two approaches? A bifactor analysis of psychological and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies.
Chen, F. F., & Jing, Y. (2012). The impact of Individualistic and Collectivistic orientation on the judgment of self-presentation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 470-481.
Jing, Y., Hui, L., & Wang, D. (2011, Jan.). Are the Ideal Self Pursuit and the Ought Self Fulfillment Unrelated? Presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, Texas
Recent Publications
Avery, Derek R., Patrick F. McKay, David C. Wilson, Sabrina D. Volpone, and Emily A. Killham (2011) "Does Voice Go Flat? How Tenure Diminishes the Impact of Voice." Human Resource Management. 50: 147-158.
Wilson, David C. and Darren W. Davis (2011) "Reexamining Racial Resentment: Conceptualization and Content." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 634 (March): 117-133.
Wilson, David C. (2010) "Perceptions about the Amount of Interracial Prejudice Depend on Racial Group Membership and Question-order." Public Opinion Quarterly. 74: 344-356.
Representative Publications
Hunt, Matthew O., and David C. Wilson (2009) "Race/ethnicity, Perceived Discrimination, and Beliefs about the Meaning of an Obama Presidency." Du Bois Review. 6:173-191.
Jones, James R., Jinlan Li, and David C. Wilson (2009) "Comparative Effects of Race/Ethnicity and Employee Engagement on Withdrawal Behavior." Journal of Managerial Issues. Vol. XXI, n2.
Avery, Derek R., Patrick F. McKay, and David C. Wilson (2008) "What are the Odds? How Demographic Similarity Affects the Prevalence of Perceived Employment Discrimination" Journal of Applied Psychology. 93: 239-245.
Jones, James R., David C. Wilson, and Margaret A. Jones (2008) "Toward Achieving the "Beloved Community" in the Workplace: Lessons for Applied Business Research and Practice from the Teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr." Business and Society. 47:457-483.
Wilson, David C., David W. Moore, Patrick F. McKay, and Derek R. Avery (2008) "Affirmative Action Programs for Women and Minorities: Support Affected by Question Order." Public Opinion Quarterly. 73:514-522.
Recent Publications
Williamson, A. A., Dierkhising, C. B., & Guerra, N. G. (2013). Brief report: Piloting the Positive Life Changes (PLC) program for at-risk adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 36, 623-628. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.03.004
Williamson, A. A., Guerra, N. G., & Lucas-Molina, B. L. (in press). What can high schools do to prevent cyber bullying? In R. Hanewald (Ed.), From Cyber Bullying to Cyber Safety: Issues and Approaches in Educational Contexts. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Guerra, N. G., Williamson, A. A., & Sadek, S. (2012). Youth perspectives on bullying in adolescence. The Prevention Researcher, 19, 14-16.
Guerra, N. G., Williamson, A. A., & Lucas-Molina, B. L. (2012). Normal development: Infancy, childhood, and adolescence. In J. M. Rey (Ed.), International Handbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health [online]. Geneva, Switzerland: International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions.
Recent Publications
Fite, P. J., Wimsatt, A., Elkins, S., & Grassetti, S.N. (2012). Contextual Influences of Proactive and Reactive Subtypes of Aggression. Child Indicators Research, 5, 123-133.
Wimsatt, A.R., Fite, P.J., Grassetti, S.N., & Rathert, J.L. (in press). Positive communication moderates the relationship between corporal punishment and child depressive symptoms. Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Fite, P. J., Preddy, T. M., Vitulano. M. L., Elkins, S. R., Grassetti, S. N., & Wimsatt, A. R. (2012). Perceived best friend delinquency moderates the link between contextual risk factors and juvenile delinquency. Journal of Community Psychology, 40, 747-761.
Fite, P.J., Rathert, J., Grassetti, S.N., Gaertner, A.E., Campion, S.D., Fite J., & Vitulano, M. L. (2011). Longitudinal investigation of the link between proactive and reactive aggression and disciplinary actions. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 33, 205-214.
Recent Publications
Sample Publications
Guerra, N. G., Hammons, A., & Otsuki, M. (in press). How ethnicity and culture influence the development of aggression and violence: A cross-national comparison. In X. Chen, & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), Socioemotional development in cultural context. New York: Guilford Press.
Guerra, N. G., Williams, K. R., & Sadek, S. (2011). Bullying and victimization from childhood to adolescence: Developmental changes and implications for prevention. Child Development, 82, 1, 295-310.
Guerra, N. G., Graham, S., & Tolan, P. H. (2011). Raising healthy children: Translating research into practice. Child Development, 82, 1, 7-16.
Williams, K. R., & Guerra, N. G. (2011). Perceptions of collective efficacy and bullying perpetration in schools. Social Problems, 58, 126-143.
Leidy, M., Guerra, N., G., & Toro, R. (2010). The impact of positive parenting and family cohesion on social competence among children of immigrant Latino parents: A mixed methods study. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 252-260.
Cook, C., Williams, K. R., Guerra, N. G., Kim, T., & Sadek, S. (2010). Predictors of childhood bullying and victimization: A meta-analytic review. School Psychology Quarterly, 25, 65-83.
Guerra, N. G., & Bradshaw, C. (Eds., 2008). Core competencies to prevent problem behaviors and promote positive youth development. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 122. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Recent Publications
Hanlon, F.M., Houck, J.M., Pyeatt, C.J., Lundy, L.S., Euler, M.J., Weisend, M.P., Thoma, R.J., Bustillo, J.R., Miller, G.A., & Tesche, C.D. (In press). Bilateral hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenia. NeuroImage.
Silton, R.L., Heller, W., Towers, D.N., Engels, A.S., Edgar, J.C., Spielberg, J.M., Sass, S.M., Stewart, J.L., Sutton, B.P., Banich, M.T., & Miller, G.A. (In press). Depression and anxiety distinguish frontocingulate cortical activity during top-down attentional control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
Spielberg, J.M., Heller, W., Silton, R.L., Stewart, J.L., & Miller, G.A. (Accepted pending minor revisions). Approach and avoidance profiles distinguish dimensions of anxiety and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
Popov, T., Jordanov, T., Rockstroh, B., Elbert, T., Merzenich, M.M., & Miller, G.A. (2011). Specific cognitive training normalizes auditory sensory gating in schizophrenia: A randomized trial. Biological Psychiatry, 69, 465-471.
Popov, T., Jordanov, T., Weisz, N., Elbert, T., Rockstroh, B., & Miller, G.A. (2011). Evoked and induced oscillatory activity contributes to auditory sensory gating in schizophrenia. NeuroImage, 56, 307-314.
Spielberg, J. M., Miller, G. A., Engels, A. S., Herrington, J. D., Sutton, B. P., Banich, M. T., & Heller, W. (2011). Trait approach and avoidance motivation: Lateralized neural activity associated with executive function. NeuroImage, 54, 661-670. PMCID: PMC2962704.
Steffen, A., Rockstroh, B., Wienbruch, C., & Miller, G.A. (2011). Distinct cognitive mechanisms in a gambling task share neural mechanisms. Psychophysiology. (Epub ahead of print, doi: 10.1111)
Bredemeier, K., Spielberg, J.M., Silton, R.L., Berenbaum, H., Heller, W., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Screening for depressive disorders using the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire Anhedonic Depression Scale: A receiver-operating characteristic analysis. Psychological Assessment, 22, 702-710. PMCID: PMC2992834.
Engels, A.S., Heller, W., Spielberg, J.M., Warren, S.L., Sutton, B.P, Banich, M.T., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Co-occurring anxiety influences patterns of brain asymmetry in depression. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 141-156. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Fisher, J.E., Sass, S.M., Heller, W., Silton, R.L., Edgar, C.E., Stewart, J.L., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Time course of processing emotional stimuli as a function of perceived emotional intelligence, anxiety, and depression. Emotion, 4, 486-497. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Herrington, J.D., Heller, W., Mohanty, A., Engels, A., Banich, M.T., Webb, A.W., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Localization of asymmetric brain function in emotion and depression. Psychophysiology, 47, 442-454. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00958. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Huang, M.X., Lee, R.R., Gaa, K.M., Song, T., Harrington, D.L., Loh, C., Theilmann, R.J., Edgar, J.C., Miller, G.A., Cañive, J.M., & Granholm, E. (2010). Somatosensory system deficits in schizophrenia revealed by MEG during a median-nerve oddball task. Brain Topography, 23, 82-104. PMID 19943100.
Miller, G.A. (2010). Mistreating psychology in the decades of the brain. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 716-743.
Miller, G.A. (2010). SPR Award, 2008, for Distinguished Contributions to Psychophysiology: William G. Iacono. Psychophysiology, 47, 603-614.
Sass, S.M., Heller, W., Stewart, J.L., Silton, R.L., Edgar, C., Fisher, J.E., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Time course of attentional bias to threat in anxiety: Emotion and gender specificity. Psychophysiology, 47, 247-259. NIHMSID: NIHMS276693. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Silton, R.L., Miller, G.A., Towers, D.N., Engels, A.S., Edgar, J.C., Spielberg, J.M., Sass, S.M., Stewart, J.L., Sutton, B.P., Banich, M.T., & Heller, W. (2010). The time course of activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex during top-down attentional control. NeuroImage, 50, 1292-1302. NIHMSID NIHMS175789. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.061.
Smith, A.K., Edgar, J.C., Huang, M.X., Lu, B.Y., Thoma, R.J., Hanlon, F.M., McHaffie, G., Jones, A.P., Paz, R.D., Miller, G.A., & Cañive, J.M. (2010). Cognitive abilities and 50 and 100 ms paired-click processes in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 1264-1275.
Stewart, J.L., Silton, R.L., Sass, S.M., Fisher, J.E., Edgar, J.C., Heller, W., & Miller, G.A. (2010). Attentional bias to negative emotion as a function of approach and withdrawal anger styles: An ERP investigation. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 76, 9-18.
Warren, S.L., Bost, K.K., Roisman, G.I., Levin Silton, R., Spielberg, J.M., Engels, A.S., Choi, E., Sutton, B.P., Miller, G.A., & Heller, W. (2010). Effects of adult attachment and emotional distractors on brain mechanisms of cognitive control. Psychological Science, 21, 1818-1826. NIHMSID: NIHMS276015. PMCID: PMC Journal - In Process.
Recent Publications
Forbes, C.E., Cameron, K. A., Grafman, J., Barbey, A. K., Solomon, J., Ritter, W., & Ruchkin, D. (2012). Identifying temporal and causal contributions of neural processes underlying the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00320.
http://www.frontiersin.org/human_neuroscience/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00320/abstract
Forbes, C. E., Poore, J. C., Barbey, A. K., Krueger, F., Solomon, J., Lipsky, R. H., Hodgkinson, C. A., Goldman, D., & Grafman, J. (2011). BDNF polymorphism-dependent OFC and DLPFC plasticity differentially moderates implicit and explicit bias. Cerebral Cortex, doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr337.
Forbes, C. E., Cox, C. L., Schmader, T., & Ryan, L. (2011). Negative stereotype activation alters interaction between neural correlates of arousal, inhibition and cognitive control. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi: 10.1093/scan/nsr052
Forbes, C. E., Poore. J.C., & Grafman, J. (in press). Contributions of the Prefrontal Cortex to Social Cognition and Moral Judgment Processes. To appear in R. P. Ebstien, S. Shamay-Tsoory & S. H. Chew, From DNA to Social Cognition.
Forbes, C. E., & Schmader, T. (2010). Retraining Attitudes and Stereotypes to Affect Motivation and Cognitive Capacity under Stereotype Threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 740-754.
Forbes, C. E., & Grafman, J. (2010). The Role of the Human Prefrontal Cortex in Social Cognition and Moral Judgment. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, 33, 299- 324.
Zhang, S., Schmader, T. & Forbes, C. E. (2009). The effects of gender stereotypes on women's career choice: Opening the glass door. In M. Barreto, M. K. Ryan, and M. T. Schmitt's (Eds.) The Glass Ceiling in the 21st Century: Understanding Barriers to Gender Equality. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Schmader, T., Forbes, C. E., Zhang, S., & Johns, M. (2009). A meta-cognitive perspective on the cognitive deficits experienced in intellectually threatening environments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 584-596.
Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336-356.
Forbes, C. E., Schmader, T., & Allen, J. J. B. (2008). The role of devaluing and discounting in performance monitoring: A neurophysiological study of minorities under threat. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3, 253-261.
Ben-Zeev, T, Duncan, S., & Forbes, C. E. (2005). Stereotypes and Math Performance. In J. Campbell's (Ed.), Handbook of Mathematical Cognition. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Recent Publications
Griffin, AL, Hallock, HL. (2013). Hippocampal signatures of episodic memory: Evidence from single-unit recording studies. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 7:54. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00054
Hallock, HL, Arreola, AC, Shaw, CL, Griffin, A.L. (2013). Dissociable roles of the dorsal striatum and dorsal hippocampus in conditional discrimination and spatial alternation T-maze tasks. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 100: 108-116.
Hallock, HL, Griffin, AL. (2013) Dynamic coding of dorsal hippocampal neurons between tasks that differ in structure and memory demand. Hippocampus, 23: 169-186.
Shaw, CL, Watson, GDR, Hallock, HL, Cline, KM, Griffin, AL. (2013). The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in the acquisition, retention, and reversal of a tactile visuospatial conditional discrimination task. Behavioural Brain Research, 236: 94-101.
Recent Publications
Roth, E.D., X. Yu, G. Rao, and J.J. Knierim. 2012, in press. Functional differences in the backward shifts of CA1 and CA3 place fields in novel and familiar environments. PLoS One.
Roth, E.D. and W.I. Lutterschmidt. 2011. Experimental validation of sex differences in spatial behavior patterns of free ranging snakes: Implications for social interactions. Ethology. 117:852-858.
Penner, M.R., T.L. Roth, M.K. Chawla, L.T. Hoang, E.D. Roth, F.D. Lubin, J.D. Sweatt, P.F. Worley, and C.A. Barnes. 2011. Age-related changes in Arc transcription and DNA methylation within the hippocampus. Neurobiology of Aging. 32:2198-2210.
Roth, T.L., E.D. Roth, and J.D. Sweatt. 2010. Epigenetic regulation of genes in learning and memory. Essays in Biochemistry. 48:263-274.
Representative Publications
Roth, E.D., W.I. Lutterschmidt, and D.A. Wilson. 2006. Relative medial and dorsal cortex volume in relation to sex differences in spatial ecology of a snake population. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 67:103-110.
Roth, E.D. 2005. Buffer zone applications in snake ecology: A case study using cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Copeia 2005 (2): 399-402.
Roth, E.D. 2005. Spatial ecology of a cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) population in East Texas. Journal of Herpetology 39 (2): 309-312.
Roth, E.D. and J.A. Johnson 2004. Size-based variation in antipredator behavior within a snake (Agkistrodon piscivorus) population. Behavioral Ecology 15 (2): 365-370.
Roth, E.D. 2003. Handedness in snakes? Lateralization of coiling behavior in a cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) population. Animal Behaviour 66 (2): 337-341.
Recent Publications
Asok, A., Bernard, K., Roth, T. L., Rosen, J. B., & Dozier, M. (2013). Parental responsiveness moderates the association between early-life stress and reduced telomere length. Development and Psychopathology.
Asok, A., Ayers, L.W., Awoyemi, B., Schulkin, J., & Rosen, J.B. (2013). Immediate Early Gene and Neuropeptide Expression Following Exposure to the Predator Odor, 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT). Behavioral Brain Research.
Recent Publications
Brunzell DH, Boschen KE, Hendrick ES, Beardsley PM, McIntosh JM.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010 Feb;35(3):665-73. Epub 2009 Nov 4. PMID: 19890263
Boschen KE, Fadel JR, Burk JA.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009 Oct;206(2):205-13. Epub 2009 Jul 3. PMID: 19575184
Recent Publications
Recent Publications
Fowles, T.R. (2010) Delaware's statewide dissemination of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT): preliminary effectiveness data. Presentation during SAMHSA federal site visit.
Fowles, T.R., Wilson, M., Meek, C., & Taylor-McDowell, J. (2010). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT): Implementing an evidence-based practice in Systems of Care. Two training institutes presented at the biennial Georgetown University Training Institutes conference.
Florsheim, P. & Fowles, T.R. (2008). An interpersonal-developmental perspective on juvenile justice systems. Journal of Law and Family Studies.
Florsheim, P., Behling, S., South, M., Fowles, T. R., & DeWitt, J. (2004). Does the youth corrections system work? Tracking the effectiveness of intervention efforts with delinquent boys in state custody. Psychological Services, 1, 126-139.
Representative Publications
Fowles, T.R., Florsheim, P., & Magill, J. (2003). Child abuse among young fathers with conduct disorder. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence conference.
South, M., Fowles, T. R., & DeWitt, J. (2002). An analysis of Utah's Protective and Risk factors Assessment (PRA). Government Report Submitted to Utah's Division of Youth Corrections.
VanVleet, R. K., Lambert, J. M., & Fowles, T. R. (2000). The Impact of Utah's Serious Youth Offender Act. Government Report Submitted to Utah's Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.
VanVleet, R. K., Fowles, T. R., & Lambert, J. M. (1999). Religion and the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Government Report Submitted to Utah's Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.
VanVleet, R. K., & Fowles, T. R. (1999). A case for intermediate sanctions. Government Report Submitted to Utah's Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.
Recent Publications
J Blaze and TL Roth. 2013. Epigenetic mechanisms in learning and memory. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science. 4:105-115.
TL Roth and Frances Champagne. 2012. Epigenetic pathways and the consequences of adversity and trauma. In Trauma, Psychopathology, and Violence, pp 23-48 (C Spatz Widom, Ed.). Oxford University Press.
TL Roth. 2012. Epigenetics of neurobiology and behavior during development and adulthood. Developmental Psychobiology. 54:590-597.
TL Roth and JD Sweatt. 2011. Annual research review: Epigenetic mechanisms and environmental shaping of the brain during sensitive periods of development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 52:398-408.
TL Roth, PR Zoladz, JD Sweatt, DM Diamond. 2011. Epigenetic modification of hippocampal BDNF DNA in adult rats in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 45:919-926.
Representative Publications
TL Roth, FD Lubin, AJ Funk, and JD Sweatt. 2009. Lasting epigenetic influence of early-life adversity on the BDNF gene. Biological Psychiatry 65:760-769.
FD Lubin, TL Roth, and JD Sweatt. 2008. Epigenetic regulation of bdnf gene transcription in the consolidation of fear memory. Journal of Neuroscience 28:10576-10586.
TL Roth, S Moriceau, and RM Sullivan. 2006. Opioid modulation of Fos protein expression and olfactory circuitry plays a pivotal role in what neonates remember. Learning and Memory 13:590-598.
TL Roth and RM Sullivan. 2005. Memory of maltreatment: Neonatal behavioral and neural correlates of maternal maltreatment within the context of classical conditioning. Biological Psychiatry 57:823-831.
Recent Publications
- Pineles, S.L., Mostoufi, S.M., Ready, C.B., Street, A.E, Resick, P.A., & Griffin, M. (2011). Psychophysiological arousal, disengagement coping, and PTSD symptoms: A moderating relationship? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(1), 240-246.
- Street, A.E., Bell, M., & Ready, C.B. (2011). Sexual assault. In D. Benedek & G. Wynn (Eds.) Clinical manual for the management of PTSD (pp. 325-348). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
- Wallace, H.M., Ready, C.B., & Weitenhagen, E. (2009). Narcissism and task persistence. Self & Identity, 8, 78-93.
- Ready, C.B., & Hayes, A.M. Limitations of a self-distanced perspective: Alexithymia as a moderator of self-distancing and emotional processing. Manuscript in preparation.
Recent Publications
Bunger, A., Trueswell, J., & Papafragou, A. "Event apprehension for language production in children." Paper to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Baltimore, MD, January 7-10, 2010.
Bunger, A., Trueswell, J., & Papafragou, A. 2009. "Seeing and Saying: The Relation Between Event Apprehension and Utterance Formulation in Children." Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA, November 6-8.
Bunger, A., Trueswell, J., & Papafragou, A. 2009. "What You See is Not What You Get: Event Apprehension and Utterance Formulation in Children and Adults." Paper presented at the 15th Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), Barcelona, Spain, September 7-9.
Bunger, A. 2008. How We Learn to Talk About Events: Linguistic Constraints on Verb Learning. Language Acquisition, 15.1.
