People

Co-Director: Florin Dolcos, PhD (fdolcos@illinois.edu)

 

Research interests:

1. Neural Correlates of Emotion-Cognition Interactions. My main interests concern the neural mechanisms underlying interactions between emotion and cognition. By combining the spatial resolution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the excellent temporal resolution of event-related potentials (ERP), I have investigated both the enhancing and the impairing effects of emotion on the neural correlates of memory processes in healthy young human participants. More recently, I have expanded these directions by investigating the impact of cognition on emotion processing, and by investigating similar issues linked to individual differences in healthy (both young and older participants) and clinical (depressed and PTSD patients) groups. [more] 

Co-Director: Sanda Dolcos, PhD (sdolcos@illinois.edu)

   

Main Research Interests:

1. Social and Personality Neuroscience: Affect and Perspective Taking in social judgment and decision making;

2. Affective Neuroscience: Emotion Regulation - strategies and changes across adulthood;

3. Cognitive and Affective Aging: Mechanisms and Neural Correlates.

4. Emotional Wellbeing: Susceptibility and Resilience to emotional challenges. 

 

Graduate Students:

  My research interests include the study of emotion-cognition interactions and also learning social judgment affects future decision-making. I specifically am interested in using computational modeling along with traditional cognitive neuroscience methods.
  My research interests are focused around examining emotion regulation, especially when it comes to influencing cognitive processes like decision making. I'm interested in how these neural and behavioral mechanisms are functioning in the moment, and also long term. I want to focus on individual differences and specific vulnerability and resilience factors that can be observed. These observations would aid in developing early prevention and intervention strategies for psychopathology.
  My research interests center around the topic of emotional processing. I have been trying to understand the neural mechanisms of how we process emotional information, as well as its interactions with the subsequent integration. I'm also studying these phenomena from the perspective of individual differences, looking at the possible structural variations in the brain associated with the differences in the styles of emotional processing.
  [Ariana's Intro]
  My primary research interest focuses on the utilization of neuroimaging techniques to analyze brain activities within clinical populations when exposed to various emotional regulation approaches. I also have a particular interest in exploring the impact of sex differences on treatment efficacy and resilience.

Post-Bachelor's RA:

  My research interest is to use experimental methods such as EEG, fMRI, eye-tracking, and combine them with computational models to explain the complex and deep-seated mechanisms in the field of cognitive psychology. I am particularly interested in human attention and emotion, learning and memory, decision making, relational thinking, and causal reasoning. 

Undergraduate Students:

  • April Meng
  • Autumn Seaton
  • James Cho
  • Ivy Chen

Alumni / Former Affiliates:

UofI  

  • Haley West (Master's Student, 2020-2023)
  • Autumn Franco (PSYC 290; 2021-2023)
  • Yagna Reddy (PSYC 290 & PSYC 490; 2020-2023)
  • Zoe Tsokolas (PSYC 290; 2021-2023)
  • Matthew Moore (Post Doc, 2018-2021)
  • Julia Radu (PSYC 290 & Beckman summer undergraduate fellow; 2019-2021)
  • Gillian Ho (research assistant, 2020-2021)
  • Justin Frank (research assistant, 2018-2020)
  • Chen (Amanda) Shen (PSYC 290 student, 2017-2019)
  • Joel Thomas (PhD student - Visiting student from the Clinical/Community Division, 2017-2019)
  • Aidan Healy (PSYC 290 student, 2017-2018)
  • Yuta Katsumi (PhD Student - Psychology Department: Cognitive Neuroscience Division, 2013-2019)
  • Matthew Moore (PhD Student - Psychology Department: Cognitive Neuroscience Division, 2012-2018)
  • Margaret O'Brien (Master's Student, 2015-2018)
  • JulieAnn Scherer (PSYC 290/494 student, 2017-2018)
  • Danah Bakir (MCB 290 student, 2017-2018)
  • Michael Budianto, Lavania Nair, Luke Campbell, Qingying Zheng, Junning Liang, Matthew Kim (PSYC 290 students/undergraduate volunteers, 2017-2018)
  • Yiling Yang, Alejandro Torres, Yijun Wang, Stephanie Kern (PSYC 290 students, 2016-2017)
  • Audra Chavez (MCB 290 student, 2015-2017)
  • Juyoen Hur (Visiting PhD student - Psychology Department: Clinical/Community Division)
  • Zachariah Bertels (Psyc 290/494 student, 2013-2016)
  • Cameron Sunkel, Christine Richards (Psyc 290 students, 2014-2015)
  • Alexandru D. Iordan (PhD Student - Neuroscience Program, 2010-2016)
  • Jake Carpenter-Thompson (MD/PhD student - Neuroscience Program: Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Lab)
  • James Norton (PhD student - Neuroscience Program: RMS Lab)
  • Suhkyung Kim (Master's Student, 2012-2014)
  • Hao (Hannah) Chen, Gina Giase (Psyc 494 students, 2013-2014)
  • Ian Kahrilas, Hailey Mulliner, Joseph Procopio (Psyc 290 students, 2013-2014)
  • Weiqi Zhao (Psyc 492 Student; RA Volunteer)
  • Judy Chiu (PhD Student - Memory Systems Lab: Memory Systems Lab, 2011-2012)
  • Nikki Llewellyn (PhD Student - Developmental Psychology: Family Studies Lab)
  • Allison Letkiewicz (PhD student - Visiting student from the Clinical/Community Division)
  • Daniel Bowie (PhD student - Visiting student from the Cognitive Neuroscience DIvision)
  • Rasheed Ansari, Hyun (Henry) Choi, Sagar Desai (Psyc 290 students, 2012-2013)
  • Jason Coronel (Post-Doc: Beckman Institute)
  • Zachary Horne (PhD student - Philosophy)
  • Sarah Woo (Post-Graduate Volunteer)
  • Yu Takioka (UG Student Volunteer)
  • Dylan O'Hearn (Psyc 290 student, 2011-2012)
  • Kaitlyn Wilson (post-graduate volunteer, 2011-2012)
  • Esther Kim, Jatin Pandey (Tech RAs, Electrical Engineering students, Spring 2012)
  • Yifan Hu (volunteer/summer intern, Spring-Summer 2012)
  • Timothy Nyckowski, HeeJun Yoon, Ya Zhang (volunteers, 2011)
  • Aminda O'Hare (visiting Post-Doctoral T32 NIH Fellow, 2010-2011)
  • Robert Molitor (Psyc290 student, Summer Research Assistant, 2011)
  • Elizabeth Abushevitz, Bianca Doherty, Belema Obomanu (Psyc 290 students, 2011)
  • Shawn Akridge, Sheena Eettickal, Julie Novak, Ruth Sandescu (Psyc 290 students, 2010-2011)

Visiting Students and Faculty

  • Illia Kuznietsov, PhD (Assistant Professor: Human and Animal Physiology Dept., Eastern European National University, Lutsk, Ukraine)
  • Isabella Zsoldos (PhD Student - Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition: University Savoie Mont Blanc)
  • Yuta Katsumi (Summer 2012) 
  • Mica Winchester (SROP student, Summer 2011)

UofA 

  • Andrea Shafer (PhD Student, Centre for Neuroscience, 2008-2014)
  • Ekaterina Denkova (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Wyeth-CIHR Fellow, 2008-2010)
  • Rick Osborne (Visiting MSc Student, Centre for Neuroscience, 2010)
  • Kristina Suen (RA, Engineering CO-OP Student, 2010)
  • Jessica Li (Honor/Independent Study Student, 2009-2010)
  • Sophie Flor-Henry (Honor/Independent Study Student, 2009-2010)
  • Claudia Gasior (Honor/Independent Study Student, 2009-2010)
  • Keen Sung (UG Volunteer, Summer Student (CSJ/AHFMR), 2007-2010)
  • Trisha Chakrabarty (MD Student, Summer Student (AHFMR), 2009)
  • Crystal Zhou (UG Volunteer, Summer student (CSJ), 2007-2010)
  • Gloria Wong (UG Volunteer, Summer/Honor/Independent Study Student, 2007-2010)
  • Hansen Zhou (UG Volunteer, 2009-2010)
  • Todd Penney (Graduate RA - MSc Student, Biomedical Engineering, 2008)
  • Graeme Armstong (Reading Course Student, 2008)
  • Nicole Dalmer (UG Volunteer, RA, 2008)
  • Ryan Campbell & Kristen Sabourin (RA, Engineering CO-OP Summer Students, 2007/2008)