News
Several new grants awarded to SCN Lab Director Bruce Bartholow and colleagues
Thanks to 3 new research grants (all started in 2009), a number of exciting new projects recently have begun in the SCN lab:
(1) “Collaborative Research: Individual Differences in Executive Functions and Expressions of Racial Biases: Behavioral and ERP Investigations,” funded by the National Science Foundation (BCS 0847872; Co-PI: Bartholow), investigates the role of cognitive control processes in performance on laboratory tasks of race bias;
(2) “Alcohol Effects on Executive Cognitive Function: Specifying Component Processes,” funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/NIAAA (as part of the Multidisciplinary Alcoholism Research Center [2P60 AA011998-11]; PI: Andrew Heath), investigates acute effects of alcohol on specific sub-components of executive functioning; and
(3) “Behavioral and Neurophysiological Effects of Co-Use of Alcohol and Caffeine,” funded by the NIAAA (Co-investigators: Bartholow and Denis McCarthy), investigates the extent to which combining alcohol and caffeine influences neurocognitive (ERP) and behavioral responses during performance of cognitive control tasks assessing skills relevant for driving.
These grants are in addition to an ongoing project, “Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring: Affective and Cognitive Components,” also funded by the NIAAA, which investigates the effects of alcohol on error processing using behavioral and ERP methods.
SCN Graduate Student Erika Henry receives National Research Service Award (F31) from NIAAA
Erika Henry’s dissertation research, which investigates the extent to which individual differences in emotion regulation interact with acute effects of alcohol to influence performance monitoring and adjustment processes, is being funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the NIAAA. This is Erika’s first research grant. (Mentors include Bruce D. Bartholow and Kenneth J. Sher.)
Chris Loersch (Ph.D., Ohio State University) joins SCN lab as post-doctoral trainee
We are very fortunate to have Dr. Chris Loersch join the lab this year as a post-doctoral trainee (supported by grant 2T32 AA013526-06 from the NIAAA). Chris is a social psychologist specializing in social cognition (especially priming effects). Chris is particularly interested in applying his “Situated Inference” model of priming to understanding predictors of alcohol use and effects of alcohol on generation of novel behaviors.
SCN Graduate Student Erika Henry Wins 2008 SPR Student Travel Award
Doctoral candidate Erika Henry received a 2008 travel award to attend the annual meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR) in Austin, TX. Her poster, entitled " Alcohol, ERN Amplitude, and State Affect: Unhappy Drunks Still Experience Distress," reports the results of a recent SCN lab experiment showing that alcohol-induced reductions in the amplitude of the ERN (error-related negativity) are not due to failures to detect errors, but rather are associated with changes in positive and negative affect following alcohol consumption. Erika was one of only 15 North American students to receive an award, out of 157 eligible student members of the Society.
Student Geoffrey Kerr wins Psi Chi Regional Research Award for 2008
Geoff Kerr was 1 of only 21 honorees (out of 320 submissions) to receive a Psi Chi Research Award for his abstract submitted to the 2008 Midwestern Psychological Association meeting in Chicago, IL. Geoff’s project investigated the effects of acute and chronic violent video game exposure on brain activity and aggressive behavior.
SCN Lab Director Bruce Bartholow receives the 2007 Award for a Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology
Each year the Society for Psychophysiological Research recognizes the achievements of an early career scientist (or scientists). Dr. Bartholow is the 2007 awardee for work investigating the neural mechanisms of social cognition. Dr. Bartholow will receive the award in October at the annual meeting of the Society, which will take place in Savannah, GA.
2 new post-doctoral scholars join the SCN Lab in summer 2007
Eunsam Shin, who received her Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience in 2007 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, joined the SCN lab in August. She has been extending her work on neural attention mechanisms to the study of alcohol cue reactivity and effects of alcohol on attention.
Eduardo Vasquez, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 2006, joined the SCN lab in July 2007. Dr. Vasquez's research focuses primarily on understanding triggered displaced aggression. So far, his work in the SCN Lab has focused on understanding effects of brief exposure to alcohol cues on disinhibition of aggression.
SCN graduate student Sarah Lust wins SPR travel award
Master's candidate Sarah Lust received a 2006 SPR travel award to attend the annual meeting of the Society in Vancouver, BC. Her poster, entitled "Sex, Booze, and ERPs: Preliminary Distinctions Between Implicit and Explicit Condom Attitudes," attracted a great deal of attention at the meeting.