51猎奇

Octavio Santos has received the 2017 APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology

Octavio聽Santos has been聽awarded聽the 2017 APA/APAGS聽Award聽for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) for his outstanding practice and application of psychology. He was nominated by Drs. Antonio Puente, APA President, and Karen Postal, President of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). This prestigious national award will be presented to him at the APA/APF聽Awards聽Ceremony followed by his 50-minute Award Address to the membership at the 2017 APA Convention in Washington, DC. His award citation, biography, and selected bibliography will be published in the American Psychologist later this year.

Octavio is currently finishing his internship at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio, TX, and has recently been accepted to the Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. His doctoral and internship training has offered him well-balanced generalist and specialty experiences, including evidence-based individual/group psychotherapy and neuropsychological assessment in English/Spanish with diverse neurological, psychiatric, and medical populations in community, university, and hospital settings. His professional interests include addressing challenges in assessment and treatment of culturally and linguistically diverse populations, particularly in the Hispanic/Latino community. Being bilingual-bicultural, he strives to respond to the rapidly growing need to develop and provide culturally sensitive neuropsychological services to Hispanics and other underserved populations.

Dr. Karyn Frick is awarded a 5-year R01 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health

Dr Frick standing and smiling in an office with bookshelves, framed photos, and a red accent wal

Dr. Karyn Frick received a five-year $1.8M R01 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for her research entitled, 鈥淢echanisms underlying memory regulation by 17beta-estradiol, Wnt/beta-catenin signaling, and BDNF in male and female mice.鈥� The long-term goal of Dr. Frick’s research is to pinpoint the neural mechanisms through which estrogens regulate hippocampal memory formation. The overall objective of this application is to determine the extent to which Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and the neurotrophin brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) contribute to the memory enhancing effects of the potent estrogen 17beta-estradiol. This project is expected to provide essential foundational knowledge about estrogenic regulation of memory formation that will advance our understanding of the etiology of, and further new treatments for, memory dysfunction in men and women. As such, this research will provide sorely needed insights about estrogenic regulation of memory formation in both sexes that could lead to the generation of novel therapies specifically tailored to reduce memory dysfunction in patients of each sex.

Memory impairments are characteristic of many neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, yet the development of effective treatments to reduce these impairments is hampered by our relatively rudimentary knowledge about the neural mechanisms through which memories are formed in males and females. Thus, Dr. Frick’s new grant will fundamentally advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying memory formation in males and females.

Dr. Lee received a CTSI Grant for the project on the development of a working memory training intervention for PTSD symptoms

Lee

Teaming聽up with excellent investigators, Dr. Sadie Larsen (PI), Dr. Chris Larson (Co-I), and Dr. Caron Dean-Bernhoft (Co-I), Dr. Lee (PI) obtained a CTSI聽Pilot and Collaborative Clinical and Translational Research Grant, in order to examine the clinical utility of a working memory-focused cognitive training program as a potential intervention for PTSD problems among veterans.

PTSD is characterized by recurrent intrusion of trauma-related memories and images that cause significant distress and impairment to the affected individuals. The specific objective is to examine whether computerized emotional working memory training can help improve working memory capabilities and reduce trauma-related emotional symptoms among individuals with elevated trauma-related symptoms.聽Participants will be guided to complete an average of 3 training sessions at home over the Internet聽every week for a total duration of approximately 5 weeks.

Pending successful outcomes, this study will provide important knowledge that will guide the future efforts to develop an effective, accessible, and cost-efficient intervention program that can reach out to many individuals who suffer from exposure to traumas.

For this research, the investigation team is actively recruiting veterans who are experiencing a high level of trauma-related symptoms. Below are part of the study entry criteria.

Inclusion criteria:

  1. Age between 18 and 60
  2. Fluently speaks English

Exclusion criteria:

  1. No access to a private computer with high speed internet that can be used privately.
  2. Elevated suicidality
  3. History of psychotic disorders
  4. Severe substance use disorder
  5. History of severe brain injury or organic mental syndrome.

Any interested individuals may contact, Dr. Sadie Larsen at 414-384-2000 (ext. 46727).

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Dr. Fred Helmstetter received a new five-year $1.8M R01 grant from the NIMH.

Dr. Fred Helmstetter received a new five-year $1.8M R01 grant from the NIMH. His research project is entitled, 鈥淪ystems and molecular mechanisms of retrival-dependent memory destabilization.

The project looks at how memories that have been formed in the brain can be changed or updated by later experience and neural activity. Information is often stored through modifications of the synapses or connections between cells. When long-term memories are recalled long after the original experience that formed them, these connections transition back in to a state that can be modified and updated. We use optogenetics to precisely control the activity of specific populations of neurons and then measure or manipulate some of the molecular processes we have previously shown to be important for memory storage.鈥�

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Dr. Lee received a 2016 51猎奇 Foundation Research Award.

Lee

Dr. Hanjoo Lee received聽a 51猎奇 Foundation Research Award at the 2016 annual Fall Awards ceremony on October 5. At the award ceremony, his experimental psychopathology research聽work on cognitive processes underlying anxiety problems was recognized. Dr. Lee has been working on developing/testing novel computer-based cognitive interventions for anxiety and its related problems. In particular, his research work on the development of computerized cognitive training programs focused on inhibitory control for individuals with obsessive-compulsive and other related problems have been supported by several different extramural and intramural research grants, including the聽National Institute of Mental Health, Trichotillomania Learning Center, Tourette Syndrome Association, and聽51猎奇 Catalyst Research Grant.

To test a novel computer game-based intervention program,聽Dr. Lee’s research team is聽actively recruiting participants with the following problems:

Adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Children or聽Adults聽with聽hair pulling disorder (Trichotillomania or Trich)

Adults with skin picking disorder (Excoriation disorder)

If you are interested in聽or know someone who may be interested in participating in聽Dr. Lee’s treatment聽study, please contact his research team at ADL@uwm.edu or 414-416-4249. His treatment聽studies also聽provide compensation.聽

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In the Media

51猎奇 Psychology faculty have recently earned notice in the media.

Dr. Ira Driscoll’s study showing that coffee may reduce women’s chance of developing dementia caught the attention of the University of New South Wales in Australia:

Dr. Karyn Frick鈥檚 recent Alzheimer鈥檚 Association Research Grant to Study Potential Sex Differences in Alzheimer鈥檚 patients caught the attention of the Milwaukee Courier.
Read the article at

Dr Frick awarded an inaugural “Sex and Gender in Alzheimer’s” Research award from the Alzheimer’s Association

Dr Frick at her desk with a computer screen displaying colorful scientific images

Dr. Frick was recently awarded one of nine inaugural “Sex and Gender in Alzheimer’s” research grants by the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Frick’s project is designed to examine how sex and estrogen treatment interact with the genetic risk factor apolipoprotein E (APOE) to regulate memory and neural function in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. The familiar Alzheimer’s disease mouse model developed by collaborator Dr. Mary Jo LaDu of the University of Illinois at Chicago also expresse human APOE variants APOE3 or APOE4. APOE4 is particularly deleterious for cognition in women, especially those with elevated endogenous or exogenous estrogen levels. Moreover, interactions among APOE genotype, sex, and estrogen significantly contribute to Alzheimer’s risk. Yet the nature of these interactions and underlying mechanisms remains entirely unknown. Thus, the overall objective for this application is to determine the role of APOE in regulating the effects of sex and estrogen on memory consolidation neural function in male and female mice that express human APOE3 and APOE4. The proposal will test the central hypothesis that disrupted neuronal function in APOE4 carriers contributes to sex differences in AD risk (Aim 1) and the detrimental effects of estrogen in female APOE4 carriers (Aim 2).

This research will determine the extent to which APOE genotype contributes to sex differences in memory decline, and compare how the effects of estrogen on memory and brain function differ by APOE genotype. APOE status is an important determinant of the effectiveness of hormone therapy (HT). Thus, identifying which patients may benefit from HT, and developing more effective treatments for those who do not respond to HT, is essential to address the needs of a heterogeneous AD population.

Amy Goetz published a new paper that examines different types of safety behaviors related to fear reduction.

Amy Goetz

Amy Goetz and her colleagues recently published a new paper in Clinical Psychology Review.聽 Goetz, A.R., Davine, T.P., Siwiec, S.G., & Lee, H.J. (in press). The functional value of preventive and restorative safety behaviors: A systematic review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review Safety behaviors are unnecessary actions used to prevent, escape from, or reduce the severity of a perceived threat. Most cognitive-behavioral theorists posit that the use of safety behaviors during exposure is maladaptive because they interfere with fear reduction. However, there is growing evidence suggesting that the use of safety behaviors can facilitate exposure. Overall, the findings are mixed as to whether safety behaviors should be made available during exposure-based interventions. The aim of the review paper was to evaluate whether safety behaviors should be made accessible during exposure, and whether, under certain circumstances, they facilitate or hinder important exposure outcomes.聽 Goetz and her colleagues examined two functional types of safety behaviors, preventive and restorative. A thorough review of the safety behavior literature from the last three decades was conducted. The evidence suggests (restorative) safety behaviors that allow for full confrontation with a core threat do not interfere with meaningful indicators of successful exposure, whereas (preventive) safety behaviors that hinder engagement with the stimulus or experience weaken exposure outcomes.

Given that clients often terminate exposure therapy for a number of reasons (e.g., fear or apprehension about the difficulty and intensity of the treatment), attempts to enhance the palatability of exposure-based treatment (without sacrificing intervention potency) are important. Thus, examination of the benign and/or facilitative role of safety behaviors as an adjunct to traditional exposure therapy is a promising research avenue.

Adam Barnas published a new paper exploring the role of visual field meridians on object-based attention.

Adam Barnas

Barnas, AJ & Greenberg, AS (in press). Visual field meridians modulate the reallocation of object-based attention, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

Adam Barnas and Dr. Greenberg have a new manuscript accepted for publication in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics in which they assess the role of the visual field meridians in how attention selects object information. Object-based attention (OBA) enhances processing within the boundaries of a selected object. Larger OBA effects have been observed for horizontal compared to vertical rectangles. Adam & Dr. Greenberg aimed to elucidate the modulatory role of the meridians on OBA. This study sought to examine how the reallocation of object-based attention within a cued object, and between cued and non-cued objects, varies as a function of crossing the horizontal and vertical meridians. Results demonstrate that OBA is allocated unevenly within objects that cross the screen meridians, regardless of whether those shifts take place within a cued object or between two objects. These findings necessitate the updating of OBA theories to include effects of crossing the horizontal and vertical visual field meridians, as well as the locations of the object and cue within the visual field.

Whether or not you鈥檙e aware of it, attention guides virtually all behavior and decisions as we interact with our environment. The underlying mechanisms that control attentional guidance is currently underspecified. In this study, Adam Barnas & Dr. Greenberg have provided new details concerning the conditions under which attention selects information on the basis of objects. Specifically, there seems to be an imbalance between shifts of object-based attention, but only when crossing the vertical or horizontal midline of the visual field. In line with these findings, Dr. Greenberg鈥檚 lab is continuing to explore related questions about attentional selection of objects.

Tara Miskovich published a new study in the journal PLOS One that examined abnormalities in cortical folding associated with trait anxiety.

Tara Miskovich

Miskovich, T. A., Pedersen, W. S., Belleau, E. L., Shollenbarger, S., Lisdahl, K. M., & Larson, C. L. (2016). Cortical Gyrification Patterns Associated with Trait Anxiety. PloS one, 11(2), e0149434.

Graduate student Tara Miskovich and Colleagues published a new study in the journal PLOS One that examined abnormalities in cortical folding associated with trait anxiety. Dispositional anxiety is a personality trait that is associated with mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Miskovich and Colleagues present evidence that trait anxiety is associated with abnormal cortical folding in the precuneus, a key node of the default mode network, a brain network that subserves self-focused thinking. Cortical folding is thought to reflect underlying cortical connectivity that occurs during early neurodevelopment. Therefore, trait anxiety may be associated with disrupted connectivity within this network, putting anxious individuals at risk for developing mental health disorders.

These results are consistent with studies examining cortical folding in clinical samples of anxiety and depression. This may indicate that folding abnormalities in the precuneus found in clinical populations are actually associated with this broader trait vulnerability to developing one of these disorders.