RAAP Lab Descriptions
Psychology Lab Openings and Descriptions for Fall 2014
Dr. Amy Drahota
Autism Model of Implementation for Autism Providers
Research and Lab Description:
The "Autism Model of Implementation (AMI) for Autism Providers" study is focused on developing and testing a systematic process to assist community-based agencies provide new treatments to children with autism.
This research study combines child clinical psychology research with organizational psychology research. If you are interested in either of these fields of research, you will be able to learn a lot about the field during this internship.
Dr. Claire Murphy
Lifespan Human Senses Lab
Research and Lab Description:
Our lab studies brain behavior relationships with a focus on finding brain areas important in diseases affecting human sensory and cognitive function, particularly in children and older adults. We use a variety of techniques, including neuropsychological assessment, classical and modern psychophysical techniques, structural and functional neuroimaging to study sensory and cognitive processes in normal and pathological development across the lifespan. Students have access to special populations, including Alzheimer’s disease patients and those at risk for the disease.
Dr. Emilio Ulloa
Youth Violence Lab
Research Interests:
Social Psychology. Aggression in close relationships. Dating violence and violence against women, trauma, and posttraumatic growth, Physical, Psychological/Emotional, and Sexual Abuse, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. Ethnic, bicultural, and social identification, and undergraduate student success.
Dr. Inna Fishman
Brain Development Imaging Lab (BDIL)
Research and Lab Description:
Our lab attempts to understand how brain develops and is organized in typical childhood and adolescence and during atypical development, which is captured by such neurodevelopmental disorders as autism. In this context, I am particularly interested in understanding those brain circuits and processes that underlie our social abilities and help us navigate – and thrive – in complex social situations as we grow and mature. We employ a variety of neuroimaging approaches, including functional MRI, diffusion imaging, and others, to examine how different parts of the brain are connected and how they work together.
Dr. Margaret Friend
Infant and Child Development Lab
Research and Lab Description:
The Infant and Child Development Lab is focused on understanding children's earliest experiences in the world and how these contribute to their language and cognitive development. Current research includes documenting vocabulary comprehension abilities in preschool children from Spanish and English monolingual backgrounds, as well as Spanish-English bilingual homes using a variety of measures.
Dr. Mark Ehrhart
Organizational and Leadership Effectiveness (ROLE) Lab
Research and Lab Description:
The research in the ROLE lab examines a number of issues related to industrial/organizational psychology, including the following topics: organizational citizenship behavior (e.g., group norms for citizenship, gender stereotypes), services management (e.g., service climate, emotional labor), leadership (e.g., follower preferences for leadership, diversity and leadership), stress (e.g., stress in nurse managers, helping and stress), and groups and teams (e.g., group mood, safety climate, climate strength).
Dr. Nader Amir
Center for Understanding and Treating Anxiety (CUTA)
Research and Lab Description:
Research in Dr. Amir’s lab focuses on information-processing biases that are involved in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Research at CUTA involves the use of various paradigms that examine cognitive disturbances (e.g., attentional bias, interpretation bias, automatic action tendencies) in anxious patients and normal individuals with elevated anxiety symptoms. Dr. Amir’s research is focused on the application of findings from experimental psychopathology to devise interventions for these disorders. For example, he has found that certain computerized cognitive bias modification (CBM) tasks designed to change attention bias or interpretation bias in individuals with social anxiety are as effective as medication or cognitive behavior therapy in ameliorating symptoms of social phobia. Moreover, the same interventions delivered as acute, one session trainings, are effective in changing anxiety-related behaviors for individuals with elevated social anxiety or obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Currently Dr. Amir’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms involved in CBM treatments for anxiety, as well as objectively measuring attention bias through the use of electromyography (EMG) and transcranial magenetic stimulation (TMS).
Dr. Radmila Prislin
Social Influence and Group Dynamics Laboratory
Research and Lab Description:
Dr. Prislin’s research interests are in the areas of social influence and social change, group dynamics in the aftermath of social change, attitudes and persuasion
Dr. Ralph-Axel Müller
Brain Development Imaging Lab
Research and Lab Description:
BDIL investigates functional and anatomical brain development in neurotypical children and those with developmental disorders. Specific focus lies on the study of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Our studies apply multimodal magnetic resonance imaging techniques (functional and functional connectivity MRI, anatomical volumetrics, diffusion tensor imaging and tractography, MR spectroscopy), electrophysiological techniques (EEG, magnetoencephalography), as well as behavioral, and neuropsychological measures. These techniques are used for investigating disturbances of functional brain organization in ASD during child and adolescent development, in particular with regard to local cortical differentiation and long distance connectivity within distributed networks. We further investigate associations between basic neurofunctional abnormalities and diagnostic and neuropsychological measures, as well as neurocognitive improvements following biological intervention (neurofeedback training).
Dr. Sarah Mattson
Center for Behavioral Teratology
Research and Lab Description:
Student researchers will have the opportunity to learn about neuropsychological assessment in general, including specific tests administered in the lab, observe actual testing, score the resulting neuropsychological data, and assist with data quality control and data entry. Motivated students will also have the opportunity to work on an independent project that will involve data analysis and possible presentation at a research related conference.
Dr. Susan Brasser
Behavioral Neurobiology Lab
Research and Lab Description:
Primary interests are in studying the physiological mechanisms of action of ethanol on the nervous system that regulate behavioral ingestion of the drug. Goals are to identify specific substrates with which ethanol interacts that are involved in controlling intake and to determine how variation in those substrates leads to excessive consumption. My research utilizes pharmacological and genetic manipulations (i.e., selectively bred lines and knockout models) combined with quantitative measures of ingestive behavior and in vivo electrophysiology to address these issues.
One current area of investigation focuses on the interaction of ethanol with gustatory receptors and central neural circuits involved in processing appetitive taste information and the contribution of ethanol-induced activation of these circuits to alcohol consumption. A second related area of interest centers on the trigeminal processing of alcohol and the role of ethanol stimulation of oral trigeminal pathways in modulating alcohol preference.
Dr. Terry Cronan
Health Outcomes Studies Lab
Research and Lab Description:
The health outcomes studies research lab is supervised by Dr. Terry Cronan of the department of psychology. We are located off-campus in the Alvarado Medical Center (AMC). We are dedicated to studying coping and chronic diseases, multicultural issues, and health care advocacy. If you are interested in becoming a part of our research team please contact us.