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职称:Professor of Psychology
所属学校:Wake Forest University
所属院系:Department of Psychology
所属专业:Psychology, General
联系方式:(336) 758-5531
My work involves using the startle reflex to look at central nervous system function. The startle reflex is an easy and noninvasive measure of CNS activity, and we assess this activity by measuring the electrical activity of the muscle that causes the eye to blink. This muscle activity is driven directly by a set of neurons in the brainstem and is affected by a number of different factors, such as stimulus parameters (physical properties of the stimulus, which sensory system is stimulated, interactions between sensory systems), subject parameters (extraversion, anxiety), and situation parameters (social encounter, directed attention). Two nice things about this startle reflex are: 1) the fact that we can easily measure CNS activity without breaking the skin, and 2) the fact that this reflex is so sensitive to a wide variety of factors. This makes the startle reflex a useful probe or measurement tool for those factors. Recent projects include using the startle response and its modification by other stimuli to evaluate a variety of issues in several areas of psychology. These include looking at differences in automatic processing of stimuli during periods of directed attention versus relaxation; evaluating simple stimulus processing during anticipation of a social encounter, in people with either high or low trait anxiety; measuring differences in information processing in people who consider themselves to be either “morning” or “evening” people, when evaluated at either their peak time or their off-peak time; measuring fundamental information processing properties based on signal-to-noise ratio and stimulus intensity. We also collaborate with labs at other Universities, and these projects currently involve using startle responding as an assessment of information processing abilities in schizophrenia, and using startle modification to evaluate dopamine systems in newborn babies. Students work on a variety of projects with each other, and we often submit completed projects for presentation at national and international scientific meetings, as well as for publication.
My work involves using the startle reflex to look at central nervous system function. The startle reflex is an easy and noninvasive measure of CNS activity, and we assess this activity by measuring the electrical activity of the muscle that causes the eye to blink. This muscle activity is driven directly by a set of neurons in the brainstem and is affected by a number of different factors, such as stimulus parameters (physical properties of the stimulus, which sensory system is stimulated, interactions between sensory systems), subject parameters (extraversion, anxiety), and situation parameters (social encounter, directed attention). Two nice things about this startle reflex are: 1) the fact that we can easily measure CNS activity without breaking the skin, and 2) the fact that this reflex is so sensitive to a wide variety of factors. This makes the startle reflex a useful probe or measurement tool for those factors. Recent projects include using the startle response and its modification by other stimuli to evaluate a variety of issues in several areas of psychology. These include looking at differences in automatic processing of stimuli during periods of directed attention versus relaxation; evaluating simple stimulus processing during anticipation of a social encounter, in people with either high or low trait anxiety; measuring differences in information processing in people who consider themselves to be either “morning” or “evening” people, when evaluated at either their peak time or their off-peak time; measuring fundamental information processing properties based on signal-to-noise ratio and stimulus intensity. We also collaborate with labs at other Universities, and these projects currently involve using startle responding as an assessment of information processing abilities in schizophrenia, and using startle modification to evaluate dopamine systems in newborn babies. Students work on a variety of projects with each other, and we often submit completed projects for presentation at national and international scientific meetings, as well as for publication.
