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Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience GroupGeneral Mission Statement General Mission StatementThe Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas is a collaborative effort with faculty in different specialty areas. We seek to understand the underlying neural basis of human behavior by taking a broad perspective, examining both normal and abnormal populations across the lifespan from early childhood through old age. The approach of our group is multidisciplinary – with work in cognition, social, clinical and developmental psychology and exercise physiology. In addition, our labs encompass a broad range of methodological expertise, bringing the latest in cutting edge technologies to the study of complex human mental functions. These methods include – magnetic resonance imaging (including structural, functional, perfusion, and spectroscopy), human electrophysiology (EEG/ERP), ultrasound, transmagnetic stimulation (TMS), genetics/epigenetics, computational modeling, and lesion work. Group MembersPrincipal Investigators:Jennifer Beer, Ph.D., Self-Regulation Lab: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/BeerLAB/index.htm Christopher Beevers, Ph.D., Mood Disorders Laboratory: www.psy.utexas.edu/MDL Andreana Haley, Ph.D., Clinical Neuroscience Lab: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/HaleyLAB/ Todd Maddox, Ph.D., Learning and Decision Making Lab: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/MaddoxLAB/index.html. Russell Poldrack, Ph.D., Poldracklab: http://www.poldracklab.org/ David Schnyer, Ph.D., Learning and Memory Lab: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/Schnyer/ Affiliated Faculty:John Bertelson, M.D., Neurology, Seton Brain & Spine Institute Martha Pyron, M.D., Medicine in Motion Hirofumi Tanaka, Ph.D., Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, UT Alex Valadka, M.D., Chief of Neurosurgery at Seton Hospital, Director of the Seton Brain and Spine Institute. Darrell Worthy, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Texas A&M Jeanette Mumford, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, UT Graduate Admissions and TrainingGraduate students would be admitted to the Department of Psychology and would select a primary faculty mentor plus two supporting faculty mentors from within the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group. Coursework would be tailored to align with the student’s research interests and those of the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group and may include coursework from other departments. By the end of the Fall of the first year, the three-member faculty committee must be formed and a training plan must be submitted to and approved by these three faculty. Graduate students admitted into the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group must fulfill all Departmental requirements. http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/cognition/dept_requirements.html Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience students are also required to give a formal presentation of their research at the end of the Fall of their second year of graduate school. In addition, students are required to complete an NRSA style research proposal. A draft of the proposal is due on the first day of classes in the Fall of their third year, and the final proposal is due on the last day of classes in the Fall of their third year. Admission into the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group with a primary mentor from the Clinical Psychology program does not constitute admissions into the Clinical Psychology program. Students who wish to receive training in research and practice of clinical psychology should apply directly to the Clinical Psychology program Potential CoursesGraduate students admitted into the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience Group are urged to complete the Neuroimaging Track in Psychology : http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/GradProgram/neuroimaging_track.html. Other Tracks include the Portfolio in Applied Statistical Modeling http://ssc.utexas.edu/for-graduate-students/statsportfolio Additional courses include, but are not limited to: Introduction to Cognition, Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Neuroscience, Principles of Neuroscience, Functional Neuroanatomy, Clinical Neuropsychology and/or Assessment, Basics of MRI, fMRI Data Analysis, and Advanced Topics in Neuroimaging. The group also periodically offers more targeted courses such as Aging & Cognition or Cognition throughout the Lifespan. Representative ProjectsResearch in the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group is carried out by several independent but interrelated faculty addressing cutting edge research questions in Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience. Representative research projects from the Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience group include: 1) genetic association studies of punishment and reward processing (Maddox, Beevers) 2) structural and functional neuroimaging of cognitive control in depression (Schnyer, Beevers) 3) structural and functional neuroimaging of category learning (Maddox, Schnyer) 4) structural and functional neuroimaging and neurospectroscopy of the effects of obesity, hypertension and diabetes on working memory (Haley, Tanaka) 5) functional neuroimaging of social cognitive processes in depression (Beer, Beevers) 6) human lesion and functional neuroimaging of emotion-cognition interactions (Beer, Maddox) 7) neuroimaging and computational modeling of reinforcement learning across the lifespan (Poldrack, Maddox) Further details of each faculty member and their laboratory can be found by following the links under "Group Members". |
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Updated 7 February, 2012
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