News

Daniel Chapman and Brian Lickel Publish New Article in Nature Climate Change

December 14, 2017

Graduate student Daniel Chapman and Professor Brian Lickel, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Assistant Professor Ezra Markowitz, Environmental Conservation, have published a new article in Nature Climate Change entitled "Reassessing emotion in climate change communication." The researchers discuss how climate change communicators may attempt to encourage or impede public engagement in their readers by initiating emotional responses.

Amherst High School Seniors Visit Tobin Hall Labs

December 5, 2017

A group of over 70 Amherst High School seniors visited the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences (PBS) in Tobin Hall, getting a chance to tour several of our labs and explore what it is to be a psychology major. Small groups of students rotated through the labs, learning about the processes and technology involved in performing research. Assistant Professor Jennifer McDermott gave a great introduction on psychology to the students, explaining the many ways scientists are studying the brain and behavior.

Caren Rotello Elected Fellow of Society of Experimental Psychologists

December 4, 2017

​Caren Rotello, Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, has been elected a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP).  Founded in 1904, SEP is described as "the oldest and most prestigious honorary society in psychology." SEP admits only a handful of leading experimental psychologists in North America as members each year. With a current membership of 220 individuals, they represent about 5-10% of practicing experimental psychologists. Members have expertise in several areas including experimental, cognitive, perceptual, behavioral, developmental, and social psychology, and neuroscience. 

Holly Laws Named Director of CRF Methodology Consulting Services

November 17, 2017

Holly Laws has been named Director of the Center for Research on Families (CRF) Methodology Consulting Services (MCS). MCS provides consultation in study design and statistical analysis. This team has particular expertise in methods for analyzing non-experimental data that arise in studies of families and dyads, with an emphasis on multi-level modeling, structural equation modeling, and analysis of nested and longitudinal data. MCS also offers free statistical seminars and a limited amount of free methodology consultation services to graduate students and faculty on campus. Laws hopes to expand the specialized methodology workshops that CRF offers, reaching a national audience through consulting and providing online tools.

Faculty Spotlight: Joseph Bergan

October 25, 2017

Research Area: Behavioral Neuroscience; Faculty page

Joseph Bergan grew up in northern Minnesota—a setting that naturally fostered an interest in the natural world. Early interests in medicine, geology, and mathematics gave way to neuroscience during his first year at Macalester College. “Neuroscience has the questions that interest me most in science. You are studying how the brain works, how we interact and perceive the world. How we behave, feel, and think. Those questions are really interesting to me. It is a privilege to get to study these questions and introduce students to these concepts for a living.” says Bergan.

Visit to the CoDeNeuro Lab

October 12, 2017

How do foundational perceptual and cognitive abilities interact with developmental experience to give rise to full-fledged uniquely human knowledge?

The Cognitive and Developmental Neuroscience (CoDeNeuro) Lab studies human cognition and cognitive development using behavioral and neuroimaging (fMRI and EEG) measures in children, adolescents, and adults. They focus on understanding the developmental mechanisms and neural underpinnings of culturally transmitted, uniquely human cognitive domains such as reading and mathematics.

The ultimate goal of their research is to advance our theoretical understanding of the nature of human knowledge and to help develop new pedagogical approaches for improving an important academic skillset for the next generations.

Pages